A Turtle on the Outside, a Wolf on the Inside
by Sairey13
Summary: Before Yoshi got the turtles from the Pet Store, Leo was found playing with the manager's dog, who was told to be a wolf-hybrid. Right before Yoshi took the turtles away, Leo ate some of the canine's fur and when he got mutated, the mutagen somehow enhanced the inside of his body to match a wolf's behavior and abilities. NO T-CEST, LEORAI or APRITELLO!
1. A Human, Turtle or Wolf?

Just know that this is my first TMNT story, so if you can, please go easy on me for trying. Enjoy!

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**March 4, 2012**  
I_ never told the guys or Master Splinter about the secret I've held for as long as I could remember when I first experienced the feeling inside of me. I don't know how they would react if they find out that I'm not entirely a mutant humanoid turtle, or if they were to find out that I'm not just part turtle and part human... It all started almost fifteen years ago, back when my brothers and I were just baby turtles and when Master Splinter was still known as Hamato Yoshi..._

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**Flashback...  
**"Damn it! That turtle got out, again!" The pet store manager cried out, seeing that there are three baby turtles playing in their glass tank bowl, when he should be seeing four baby turtles in the glass tank bowl.

He also saw that the lid, that's been sealing the top of the tank to prevent the pets inside from getting out, was removed and laying flat-out on the left-side of the tank, which the manager knows that the missing turtle couldn't have down that on his own. Immediately, he figured out where the missing turtle's at and facepalm his face from not realizing it sooner.

"Damn it, Shadow!" The manager yelled out, setting the lid back in its place to be sure that the remaining turtles wouldn't get out, and made his way to the room next door, where they keep the dogs in until they're bought and sold to their new owners. There are thirteen dogs inside the pen, most of them awake and barking playfully, while the rest of the dogs are sleeping peacefully in their pen until they smelled the manager of the shop passing by and lifted their heads to watch him go by before returning to their sleeping.

By the time the manager reached the end of the room, his hunches of his dog being the turtle-napper was correct when he saw his midnight-black canine-companion gently nuzzling the missing baby turtle, which was laying in front of the canine and in-between the large-animal's paws to prevent it from wondering off, despite the little creature being slower than a dog. Both animals were too caught up on playing with each other, that they didn't notice the canine's owner standing in front of them until they both heard a continuous angry tapping on the floor that was irritating the dog's sharp hearing. When the large-animal looked up and his moon-blue eyes stared into his owner's grey-brown eyes, did the animal lowered his head in shame, his nose gently nuzzling the small-turtle to give it comfort when it sunk into its shell from the tapping they've heard.

"Shadow, how many times do I have tell you to stop taking that turtle out of its tank?" Knowing from the start that he would get in trouble and since he couldn't really answer back to the manager, Shadow let out whimpers and looked back up at his answers with his large, puppy-dog eyes, hoping that his secret weapon will get him into less trouble than he already was in. His owner wasn't very amuse by his dog's attempt to get out of trouble. "I don't have time for this, Shadow; he and his brothers are going to be sold, possibly today, and I have to make sure that I have _all_ four baby turtles ready to be bought or they won't be able to go to their forever home."

The owner then leaned in over his dog's face, who let out a couple of more whimpering sounds, and watch his owner gently but firmly grab both side of his little friend's shell. Sensing himself being captured and about to be taken away from his canine-companion, the little turtle reached his little head out of his shell and made a quick grab for Shadow's leg, trapping a few pieces of his fur in his little beak. Being so small and helpless, the store manager had no problem on pulling the turtle away from the wolf-dog, even when the little creature had a grip onto his fur, and then calmly left the kennel part of the store. Unknown to the store manager, that when he pulled the small turtle away from his dog, a few strands of the mammal's fur were lightly pulled away from the dog and are now being kept within the turtle's mouth... Which were then, by mere fear of being lifted away, were swallowed and are now inside of the turtle's small-stomach.

Once he was placed back inside of the tank with his three brothers, who all corralled over to their big brother and butted heads against each other in rejoice on being back together, the manager went back to his place at the cashier, where he didn't have to wait long for his next customer to come through his shop's door: It was Hamato Yoshi, and to the store manager's luck, he came to buy the four baby turtles. Not only was the manager more than happy to give his customer the four turtles, but he also gave him a discount on buying all four of the turtles, which ended up with the thirty-five year-old man to give up ten dollars for the small creatures. Shadow, who came through the door of the kennel room, watched the whole thing happening before his eyes and let out whimpers of sadness when he knew that his little friend was no longer going to be with him.

Hearing the dog's distress cry from the tank, the small turtle crawled towards the side that was closest to the canine and started tapping his little paw against the glass, letting out little squeaking cries to let out his own cry of distress, right before the manager grabbed him and placed him inside a small fishbowl full of sand with his brothers and handed them over to their new owner. Even as they went through the front door and went around the corner, the small turtle never left his gaze that were implanted to where the pet store was just at, hoping that at any moment, Shadow would come running in from behind the human that took him and his siblings, and then would whisk him away to where only the two of them would be together. Though he love and cares for his younger brothers and would want his canine-friend to take them as well, he knew that they never liked the black wolf-dog from the moment he took their big brother out of their tank for the first time and would never want to stay with turtle-napper, even if that certain turtle-napper is a friend of their big brother that never did any harm to the small-creature.

The small-turtle suddenly felt something large and warm gently touch his little-head, startling the small creature to shrink into his shell in fear that the human that took him and his brothers was going to hurt him. When he felt that certain warm-feeling go to the back of his shell, the turtle let out a small hissing sound, hoping that his warning cry would scare the human and make it cease with whatever it was doing to him. He then heard the human chuckle, his voice holding a deep but caring tone.

"You must be the oddball that I was told who played with the store manager's wolf-dog," the human said to the turtle. The warm feeling on his shell finally left him, a sign that the small-turtle can come out of his shell. Once he did came out of his shell, he was quite stunned to see the human giving his younger brothers the same treatment it gave to him: Brushing and stroking his younger brother's head and shell, which they all seemed to liked and enjoyed very much. Nevertheless, the eldest of the bunch made his way towards the finger that was petting his baby brother and tried to snap his beak onto the finger, only to bite at the air, itself, when the finger pulled away just in time to avoid being bitten. "And you sure are very protective over your brothers." Yoshi added, letting out another chuckle in amusement from one of his new pet-turtles intriguing him by displaying his reaction and behavior when a stranger's display their own affection to their new pet.

As he continues to make his way to his apartment that was a couple of blocks away from the pet store, a strange man bumped into Yoshi, not bothering to apologize or take notice that the thirty-five year-old can sense something odd about him. Within the small bowl, the eldest turtle can also sense something wrong about that human who shoved by his new owner and let out a hiss towards the direction of the walking man, warning his younger brothers and Yoshi that the man walking away from them is bad news. And boy, for an infant turtle, he was right.

When Yoshi decided to follow the strange man and hid himself behind the wall of a building next to the alley, did he saw was another man, looking exactly like the same stranger that bumped into him. He then noticed that one of two men was holding a canister, filled with some strange glowing substance that the thirty-five year-old had never seen before. He took another silent step closer to the alley, only to have accidentally step on a rat's tail, that let out a squeal of pain and had alerted the two men that they've been spotted.

**"Go no further." **One of the men said to Yoshi, slowly walking towards him to gang up on the thirty-five year-old man and his pet turtles. **"This place is a place where you are not allowed to be in this place." **While the two in front of Yoshi came up closer to him, the eldest turtle heard footsteps coming up from behind his new owner and let out another hiss, warning his owner that it's being surrounded and is most likely going to be attacked from behind, while his younger brothers huddled up behind him in fear of being grabbed and wanting their eldest brother to protect them from the four humans surrounding them and their new owner.

**"We have been seen in this place by you, so this is not a place that will be left by you."**

Though he may appear helpless and look as though he doesn't stand a chance against four strange men, what they didn't know is that Hamato Yoshi is one of the top masters of Ninjutsu in all of Japan. So, when the two men from behind him tried to pin him down to make it easier for the other two men to attack him, he fought back. Being mindful that he has his baby turtles with him and not wanting to put them on the sideline of danger, he kicked the two men from behind him out of the alley, forcing them to land on the street and/or hit against some of the parked cars. He then turned his attention to the other two men, using one hand to hold the bowl that still held the baby turtles and using the other hand to form itself into a fist to deliver painful punches. Apparently, when he punched the fourth man to the ground, he has caused his opponent to release his hold on the canister, which then flew in midair for a few seconds and then landed... Right on top of Yoshi and shattered from the mere force and strength the human has within him.

The blow to the head was enough to force the thirty-five year-old man to release his hold on the bowl his pet turtles still remained inside of and the bowl shattered when it hit the ground, releasing the turtle from its hold and forcing them to land on separate spaces on the ground, covered with the glowing substance. When they were forced to scattered, the eldest turtle landed near the glow-covered Hamato Yoshi, who was withering in pain and going through a terrible transformation. While going through the changes, some of the substance that landed on Yoshi dripped off of the thirty-five year-old man and some of them fell on top of the eldest turtle, some of it covering his shell and face... And the rest went straight into his mouth when he let out a shriek of fear from the sight of his new owner changing into a bigger beast, forcing him to swallow the substance and having him to also go through the terrible burning feeling of his own transformation.

To the little-turtle, it felt like the burning sensation lasted for hours, when it had actually lasted for about ten to fifteen seconds and by the time it finally ended, he knew that at this very moment, he was no longer a turtle. Right when his vision went blurry and his hearing started to silence the world around him, he was able to get fuzzy-glimpses of the still forms of his brothers and a large-beast, which happened to be his owner but he couldn't tell what it actually looked like from his vision starting to go black, quickly scooped the four of them into the folds of its arms and swiftly leaving the alley. And with those being the last to remember his life as a normal turtle, the eldest turtle knew nothing else and fell into the comfort of the silencing darkness.  
**End of Flashback...**

* * *

_And that was the last thing I remember of my life as a normal turtle, and the beginning of my new life as a humanoid-turtle... Although, my life as a humanoid-turtle didn't start the moment my brothers and/or Sensei did._

_The moment I was fully mutated, I was deaf, I had my eyes closed for months and I couldn't walk or even move my limbs like my brothers could when they were four to seven months old. Sensei told me that during my infancy stage, all I ever did was sleep, like I was hibernating, and stayed completely still in our sleep-spot, unless my brothers would accidentally push me a bit that placed me in a different position whenever they would play with one other, or whenever it was time for us to be bathed or fed. He also claimed that I rarely made a sound and I ate so little, that I didn't drink even half of the bottle that he would give us milk from (Where he gotten the milk from, was at a grocery store that he would sneak into at the middle of the night to gather food, before the store manager put up security to catch the thief and protect any more of his food products when we were turning two years old). Master Splinter was worried that I wouldn't make it, that I was going to become a lost cause if he continued to take care of me when I showed no signs of waking up or moving. However, he refused to give up on me and wasn't going to leave me for death without a fight._

_While Master Splinter and my brothers began their lives on the exact day of our mutation, my life started when I was near my first year of life, which I was about eight and a half months old._

* * *

**Flashback...  
**He wasn't sure how long he had his eyes closed for, or how long he saw is the darkness in front of him when he would no longer be able to dream from the sound of a stranger and brothers interrupting his peaceful nap, which he has grown used to when he was able to hear at four months old, until they're to sleep with him, but he does know that it's been a long time since he saw anything but the darkness. And now, feeling a bit restless and wanting to see something that isn't the darkness, the turtle gathered what little strength he has inside of him to force his eyes to open from heavy eyelids that prevented him from seeing the world around him the very moment he was turned into a humanoid turtle.

It was literally tiring him out on having to open his eyes, which wasn't the first time he tried opening them up and ended up with the same results on having to forcefully give up and continue on sleeping until he was a bit stronger to try again, but he has a feeling that this would be the very moment he _will_ open his eyes and that feeling, alone, is all the motivation he needs to keep on trying and to not give up on his efforts.

**_"Uhm... Hmm..."_**

He could hear his brothers and a deep voice around him, all sleeping at this very moment from the activities that has satisfied them all until they only had the energy to cuddle up and sleep. How he has wished to see how his brothers turned out to be after being mutated into humanoid turtles, how he wish to see the man who has taken them away from the pet store became their master. But most of all, he wish that the moment he sees them, that he would be able to bond with his brothers and master, and make up for lost time they haven't been able to start together, after months of being forced to do nothing but sleep the months away.

It was at that moment, that he noticed a small line of light, signifying that his eyelids are starting to open. Excitement rushed throughout his entire being, as he forced his eyes to open a bit more, watching the small line of light getting bigger by the second... Then, finally, after months of being in darkness and only having his dreams be his only company from within the darkness and the sound of his family around him, his eyes finally opened and could see what he's been missing for so long. It took some time for his eyes to get adjusted to the light, since they've never seen the light before he was no longer an ordinary turtle, but after a few blinks and rubbing the blurriness out of his eyes, did his vision finally came to focus.

He let out a small gasp when he was able to see all around, as he slowly and quietly lifted himself from where he has laid and was soon sitting up... Surrounded and in the center of his family in what appears to be their sleep-spot. He was completely surprised to see how his brothers turned out after being mutated: human-infant bodies, three-fingers and toes, large-shells surrounding and protecting their body if threat were to ever come for them. The boy smiled softly at how his brothers turned out, happy to know that all three of them are unharmed, safe and healthy. He then noticed a long, pink-tail curled around himself and his brother, as if it was there to keep the four small turtles from wondering off or roll away in their sleep. He then watch the long tail slowly pulling in on them and bringing the small infants towards a large-figure that the turtle didn't noticed until he heard a couple of low grunts and murmuring sound from behind him.

When he turned himself to face the figure, he was startled to be seeing a large-rat laying beside him and his brothers, sleeping with them as if the four infants are his young... Which, after slightly scooting a bit closer to the large-creature but still at a far distance in case he was a threat to him and his brothers, as he sniffed the creature's scent, did the boy made the discovery that he and his brothers carry the rat's scent. However, scent, alone, wasn't enough proof if he and his brothers have marked as the humanoid-rat's own children or if it was going to plan on eating them, judging by the large-teeth the large-mammal's showing from its mouth gaped.

"Urg... Saki..." The rat muttered in his sleep, bringing the turtle out of his trains of thoughts and to watch the rat's expression go from calm to pain, fear and anger. "...No... Shen... Miwa...!" Hearing the hurt in his voice on the last two words he spoke, along with feeling he knew where he heard that voice from but couldn't remember from where at this very moment, the small turtle felt the uncomfortable feeling of something crushing his heart and he didn't like the feeling one bit.

**_Go! Get away from sad and hurt feeling! Don't like feeling hurting heart! Get away from feeling!_**

His first instinct was to get up and get as far away from the negative feelings as possible, but another instinct got in the way.

_Stay! Don't leave! Can't leave hurt and sad! Don't leave creature sad and hurt!_

Instead of it being an actual instinct, his conscience came to give him second thoughts and didn't wants him to leave the rat, hurt and sad. It was a hard decision for the eight month-old turtle to choose, but after seeing the depressing look on the rat's face, which somehow added the hurt feeling even more in his chest and sensing his three brothers unconsciously feeling the negative emotion around them, from seeing them twitching in their sleep and letting out small whimpers that indicated their fears and pain, the eldest turtle knew that he has to try and make the feeling go away. So, on wobbly arms and legs that haven't been in use for months and being as careful as he could on not bumping against his sleeping brothers or waking them up, the small turtle crawled his way towards the rat, where he sat at the right-side of the creature's sleeping-figure, next to the midsection of the neck. At first, he was a bit hesitate on making the first move, but he knows that the sooner he tries to comfort the creature, the sooner the hurt feeling will go away. Even if he doesn't succeed on calming the sleeping rat, at least knowing that he tried to help will soothe his guilty conscience.

So, after taking a deep breath, he slowly raised his small left-hand and moved it towards the fur on the rat's neck. The moment he palm lightly rested against the tip of the fur, the little-turtle was indeed surprised on how soft the top of the fur was. Then, after making sure that his touch hasn't jostled the rat out of his sleep, the boy added a little more pressure on laying his hand into the fur and then, slowly stroked the fur. The small boy was a little disappointed that his comfort wasn't doing any effect on the rat, but after the next few strokes and a little bit more pressure that has him feeling the creature's skin through the thick fur, the creature finally started to calm down and cease his murmuring.

The feeling of something clutching at the boy's heart began to fade, as he kept on soothing the mammal's sadness and fear. The more the child stroke the brown and black-fur, the less hurt and sad the large-creature felt and the more the hurt feeling in the child's chest went away on becoming nonexistence. Eventually, the rat finally went silent, only breathing calming and settling in a perfect rhythm that shows he's now sleeping peacefully. Smiling in satisfaction that he has soothe the creature into a more comfortable sleep and seeing his brothers no longer feeling the negative emotions around them to ruin their sleep, the turtle gently patted the rat's neck before he quietly crawled away from the mammal, trusting it to not eat his brothers while he goes off to explore a bit, and the sleep-spot the small group continue to sleep on.

Now that he can see and knows that his family will be okay, all the infant wants to do is go explore his new surroundings and find out what he's been missing for the past eight months, along with learning how to gain better control of his body and get it use to moving around instead of laying still in one spot twenty-four/seven. He wasn't sure what the strange objects are around him called or what they do, like the weird box that has moving pictures going on through the glass or the long-blue thing in front of the moving-picture box that looks like it would be fun to jump on or be more comfortable to sleep or sit on, but what he does know is that every item that he sees before his deep-blue eyes are his and his brothers, along with the large-mammel if it's a friend, to keep and belong to only them. He eventually found small sets of steps, leading up towards a large-hole that leads outside of the large territory, of the den that must belong to the humanoid-rat.

At first, he was planning on staying away from the large-hole that leads to the darkness and head back to his brothers and large creature on their sleep-spot, but the urge and instinct to go exploring and seeing that there are red-lights lighting a trail within the darkness, the boy couldn't resist the opportunity to not check it out. Seeing that he could most likely get his knees hurt if he were to crawl over the small steps, the small turtle placed a hand on the step in front of him and used it to help him get up off his knees and to stand on his own two feet for the very first time. Again, because he hasn't been moving his body for months and has never once walked on only his hind-legs in his small life, his body isn't use to the sudden change of position it was in and his legs wobble from being unused for so long and not having to hold up so much weight before, even when the boy barely weigh that much.

Not only was his legs a bit weak on having to hold up so much weight, but his shell, alone, was making his balance a bit more difficult to gain because of its own weight it carries and has nearly caused the child to fall on his back and leave him stuck on his back until he could either turn himself over to his side or roll himself off his shell. How he wish that he could simply crawl up the steps to get through the opening, if they didn't have pointed edges or feel as if they have sharp-pieces of broken glass all around them that could cut into his knees. Despite being new to moving only his hind-legs and having to fall on his knees, along with trying to hold in his wince and hurt cries whenever he cuts his skin onto the hard ground and nearly waking up his brothers and large-mammal from the continuous thumps he would make when he would fall to the ground, in just six minutes, he finally gotten the hang of walking, even when his shell would still try to pull him a bit too far back.

The next part he would have to learn is walking up the steps, which will result of him to lift his legs a bit higher than they normally would to help him move up the steps. Luckily, for him, while he lifts his feet to get them over the steps, he was allow to use the railing of the steps as support if he ever feels himself going to fall backwards and to keep himself up until he gets to the next step. Eventually, he makes it to the final steps of the small staircase and after crawling under what the small-turtle believe to be a gate, the boy finds himself outside at the opening of the den. Unlike the darkness he has to see through his shut-eyelids, the darkness of the tunnels didn't scare him much because the tunnels had red-lights that leads the way to wherever they start or end... And in the darkness, despite seeing the darkness for months, it brings a certain comfort to the small turtle.

Soon, curiosity gotten the best of him when he wants to see where the lights of the tunnel leads him to, that he didn't hesitant on following towards the direction that showed a long-trail of red-lights to the left-side of his den's opening. Wondering if he could go faster, the turtle tried to make his feet go a little faster, which left him to once again fall to the floor and get a few more cuts into his skin and some to actually scratch into his plastron. And still, even with his body and skin now carrying a lot of cuts and some of them leaving a small trail of blood, the deep-blue eyed turtle won't allow himself to cry. Thinking it would be easier to be moving forward in a position that was more useful and comfortable, the boy chose to continue following the trail of red-lights by crawling.

Time went by slowly, but to the infant-turtle, he felt like he's been following the red-lights for an eternity inside of the large-tunnel, the trail and tunnel feeling like it doesn't have a beginning or an end at all. The small-turtle was getting tired the more he continued on following the trail, and his body was getting very sore the more he kept on crawling on the rough-floor that continues to cut into his skin to leave new scratch-marks and dig in deeper to the more opened wounds he gave to himself when learning how to walk. He was already thinking about to stop following the trail and to head back for the den, when he started to hear something far out within the tunnel in front of him. It didn't sound like footsteps, for the sounds has more than one or two feet hitting the ground and it sounded like whatever it was hitting the ground is increasing the speed of meeting the ground.

The eldest turtle wanted to try and get their quicker and was thinking about crawling a bit faster, but he knows that the idea of scraping his knees even more into the ground will hurt a lot more. So, he tries to lift his knees off the ground, which resulted of him being force to straighten his arms making him stand on all-four... Which instantly have him recall of his past-life as a regular turtle on how he would move: By walking on all-four, resulting on moving by using his hands and feet as his transportation, not by his hands and knees or using just his back-legs that he still barely been able to get used to having to move him around.

The boy smiled at the past he still remembers, especially the good old days where he would get out of his tank and play with the manager's wolf-dog, Shadow. His mind then had him lock on to how he would watch Shadow move on all-four, which includes on how he would jog-trot and when there was time he would be very excited about something that he couldn't help but run around in the shop or run through the dog-door of the shop and go off to play for a little while. Back then, the turtle thought that whenever the wolf-dog runs, he more looks like he was doing mini-hops, sort of like how rabbits would run and hop, since he would use his hind-legs to kick him off his feet and be in midair for a bit until his forearms would help him land back on solid ground. Looking down at the way he positioned himself on all-four, knowing that his older walk on all-four from the past was much more different than the way he's doing it, he found himself in a similar position that Shadow and the dogs at the kennels would stand.

**_Run... Run to sound. Run on all-four... Run... To freedom._**

His first instinct came back, fueling his urge to follow the sound, to run the same way Shadow and the other canines would move swiftly as they please. Even as an infant, the turtle understood what his instincts are telling him to do and to the meaning of the word 'freedom'.

_Don't leave... Stay with brothers! Need you. Miss you! Too young to leave, too soon for freedom! Need time. Wait until bigger, older and stronger..._

His conscience intervened once again, reminding the infant that he can't go off and leave his brothers that he just seen for the first time in over eight months, especially when he has no knowledge on how to survive the dangers that could happen to him at any moment or how to provide for himself to get on the days to come. Silence was all the small-turtle could hear, making him wonder if his newly-found instinct couldn't come up with an answer or an agreement for the suggestion his conscience brought up, or if it was waiting for the infant to make his own choices. And right now, all he wants to do is follow the continuous sound of something tapping onto the ground and figure out what it was.

**_...Stay with Kins, stay for now. Once all are bigger, older and stronger, leave Kins... Leave for freedom. For now, explore._**

Smiling to the agreement his instinct just said to him and feeling excitement coursing through his small body, the boy was more than ready to get going. Before he did, however, he first has to relearn on how to move on all-four by his hands and feet, which was a little difficult for him to do because he has to be sure his hands were apart from one another and away from his feet to avoid tripping over them if they get caught against each other while he stares out what's in front of him.

It didn't take that much time for him to get used to not crawling on his knees than it did with walking on just his two feet, but he still wants to move a bit faster than the speed he's going in. Once again memorizing on how Shadow and some of the dogs would move a bit faster and/or run on all-four, the turtle decided to try and do the jog-trot.

From what he remembers on how they do it, the canines would lift their paws a bit higher off the ground and would have all four-legs move as a unison: Either doing left-arm and right-leg first and vise versa, making them looks as if they're sprint-jumping, or sometimes left-side first and vise versa, which almost looks like they're doggy-paddling on land when they're not in the waters. The child then recalls that whenever Shadow does his jog-trot, rather than lifting his head up like most of the dogs would, he would actually lower his head down a bit to make him and his back straight as a smooth plank-wood, almost like he's out in the woods and is stalking for his prey.

The turtle decided to give it a try, and started moving himself on all-four. Then, he tried to go a bit faster by moving his legs a bit faster, which almost had him tripping over his own arms and fall face first onto the ground. Luckily, he stopped himself from falling with his own hands and before he realize it, he was no longer doing the jog-trot, but has started the run-gallop when both his legs landed together mere inches behind his arms and launched him a bit high in the air, making him reach his arms out to catch him and prevent him from landing roughly on the ground. Immediately, he was starting to see a pattern: Whenever his legs land together, he lifts his hands off the ground and against his chest, ready to thrust them out in the open to catch him. And whenever they land together to stop him from falling, his legs would curl themselves a bit while in the air and set themselves to land a few inches from his hands to start the cycle all over again.

Before he realized it, he was going so fast, that he could feel the wind blowing against him and his heart thundered in a rhythm that tells him of two things: He was running as a wolf, and he was running free. He was so distracted from realizing that he was going fast and overly excited from figuring out what the taste and feel of freedom is, that he wasn't expecting for either his instinct or his conscience to interrupt his fun.

_Stop! Made it to spot. Made it where sound is making._

Immediately, after his feet has landed on the ground, the child lifted the top-half of his body to put in a bigger gap between his hands and his feet, forcing him to cease his run-gallop and for him to realize that he was out of breath on having to be going fast for who knows how long to the small-infant.

**_*Drip!... Drip!... Drip!... Drip!...*_**

Hearing the sound continuing on and feeling something wet underneath his left-hand, the boy turned to his left and looked up, finding himself staring at a drain that's been allowing water to come into the tunnel from the pouring rain that's going on before his deep-blue eyes. As it continued on dripping rainwater, the boy realized how dry his mouth is and how parched he felt after that run he just did, so he leaned in on the wall that was underneath the drain and opened his mouth to let the water come dripping in to quench his thirst. The water was quite refreshing, even though it was cold, and he didn't mind that the water would pour over his small body. In fact, he actually enjoys the feeling of water washing over him and washing away whatever substance that still clings to his skin, especially if the substance is dry blood from his scrapes.

When he no longer felt thirsty and feeling much more refreshed that his skin no longer held any bloodstains, the turle gently leaned his shell against the wall that has helped him gain his balance while standing on his legs and slowly allowed himself to sit against the wall, simply enjoying the feeling of his skin being moisturized instead of being stuck on the sleep-spot for so long and only being bathed once every few days when some large-being would remove him from the sleep-spot and take him to another area in a spot filled with warm-water and some sort of foam-substance that the turtle wasn't familiar with. He does remember, back when he was still a normal turtle, that he and his brothers would be removed from their tank once every three or four days and be placed in a fish bowl, then they sleep or watch the store-manager or an employee dump the water out of their temporarily home and then would use a yellow-object covered in white-stuff to wipe the glass of the tank with, before they would rinse the white-stuff out of their case and replace their old water with new water. He wasn't sure if the foam-substance and the white-stuff could be linked to one another, but what he does know is that they both carry a sort of scent that doesn't match to any earthly-environment and wasn't sure if he liked his skin smelling like those two substances instead of his usual scent of earth and water.

As the water continued on pouring down over him, the child began to shiver when the temperature around him started to drop and was having trouble keeping the water from getting into his eyes. So, after scooting away from the drain above him and getting himself on all-four, the child shook his body, just like Shadow and the other mammals would do back at the pet store, to get any remaining water or any dirt off of his small-form still clung to his skin or shell. It didn't help get rid of the cold eating away his body heat, but at least he was dry, as long as he stays away from the drain and the puddle. And speaking of the puddle, it just got bigger in size than it originally was when the small-turtle first came to the drain and when he finished shaking his body to get rid of the rain-water that coated him. Realizing that he never gotten the chance to see how he came out after being mutated eight months ago and seeing how his family came to be, the turtle stared down at the puddle, looking right down at his reflection:

He already knew, on having to stare at his hands when he woken up and his feet when learning how to walk, he has three fingers, three toes and his skin's darker than his brothers, resembling to a forest-green color. His shell, rather than swallowing up his entire body and only letting his head and his arms out like it used to when he was a normal turtle, the back of the shell was thin and the highest it would reach behind him was to the halfway point of his neck, while his plastron covered his chest area and only reached up to cover his collarbones. He also noticed that his neck wasn't as long as it used to be as a turtle and that his head was round, but smooth and his face curved down a bit for still having his beak. Then, he saw his eyes; he never thought he would ever see his eyes again, but now, he can finally see them once more: Deep-blue, almost near to a dark-cerulean/sapphire color.

The small boy smiled, happy to finally get the chance to truly see himself for who he is. He then reached his small hand out and placed it on the puddle, watching the ripples of the small water dance around and making his image change its shape, before it finally settled and allowed his image to be as it was before his hand laid itself on the puddled ground. He may not have a voice or know how to use that voice to speak, but he can surely think up the words that popped up in his head on how he feels.

_'Me... True-self me... Happy-self me... Real me...' _Then, like any normal infant would do when they're happy, he let out giggles of happiness and then went into splashing the puddle in front of him. _'Happy... Me, happy... Found true-self me... Happy, me...' _He didn't seem to care on how much he was getting himself wet, considering he already gave himself makeshift-shower from the drain above him, and felt like there was nothing that could take away his feeling of joy and happiness on having to discover his true-self as a humanoid-turtle... Wait a sec? A Humanoid-turtle?

As soon as the happiness came, it suddenly vanished, replaced by confusion and another odd feeling that he wasn't sure it was. The boy knew something wasn't right if he sensed his happiness going away and being replaced by a feeling similar to the hurt feeling that he felt when the humanoid-rat was muttering words that made the boy's heart ache in pain, only this feeling held a different kind of hurt in his heart. A bead of water that glided down his little-face from his splashing dripped off of his skin and fell into the puddle beneath him, getting him to look down when he felt that drop jumping off of his skin. Immediately, he knew something wasn't quite right about his reflection, something he didn't realized when he was examining himself.

_'Wrong?... What's wrong?... F_ound_ true-self me... What's wrong, True-self me?' _He couldn't really tell what was wrong about his reflection; all he see is himself, a humanoid-turtle like his brothers and a humanoid-creature like the large-rat creature... Although, he did notice something wasn't right about what he see in his reflection... Or better yet, what he _doesn't_ see in his reflection.

His memory then came back to him on the very day he was bought, that he had swallowed some of Shadow's fur and then, right when the and his brothers fell into the mutagen, that he had swallowed some of the substance that lingered off of his owner and it caused his insides to burn in pain like the substance did on his body when it landed on top of him. But at the same time, he felt the inside of his body change. His organs, his muscles, even his skeletal structure changing. Most of all, he felt his heart and mind changed, making him being able to feel and know things of other beings around him and himself more than most people do about themselves...

He then realized that whatever that substance he just swallowed not only changed the outside of his body into a humanoid-turtle, it had also changed the inside of his body... But not in the same way his body was changed as. He wasn't sure how to describe it, but he had a feeling that whatever it was going on inside of his body, he felt like the pieces of fur of Shadow's he ate had something to do with the problem he has about his appearance. He then noticed something was wrong about himself: It was his eyes. He wasn't sure how he didn't figured it out sooner, but it was his eyes that set off the warning bells inside of his mind and the missing link to what it was missing of his appearance... They were the wrong colors.

Back when he was still living at the pet store, he remembers a time where he would stand close to the glass of his tank and then he would see another turtle in front of him, which would keep on copying his every move when he tries to touch the turtle or try to scare it off with his warning hiss. It took him a while to figure out that the turtle he's been seeing in front of him, whenever he stands too close to the glass, that it was merely a reflection of himself. Once he realized that his reflection was no threat to him, the turtle decided to study his own appearance, which there wasn't very much to see the difference between him and his brothers: Same shells, same color skins, same faces. Besides the fact that his first younger brother is the biggest in their group and his youngest brother is the smallest in the group, there was nothing in his reflection or his brothers that could show them being different from one another... However, after a closer look in examination with his eyes and turning to stare at his brothers playing or swimming around in the small water of their tanks, the eldest turtle had found a trace of difference between him and his brothers: Their eyes.

The child never really thought about the color of their eyes when they were normal-turtles; all he knew was that they'd hatched together and are brothers, instinctively feeling that they're all equals with no flaws or differences, always assuming that the four of them are one in the same... Until he took a good look at his own reflection and was staring at his eyes, wondering if his brothers' eyes had also changed colors like his did. The last time he remembers his brothers' eye-colors, his first younger brother's eyes were a light-grey with green specks. His second younger brother's were brownish-red, though his eyes seemed a bit more of a mud-red color. Lastly, his youngest brother's eyes was the only turtle who had blue eyes, which were a light-blue color.

He may not know if his brothers also had their eyes changed as well, but he knew perfectly well that his eyes had changed colors: Because when he saw the colors of his eyes through the glass, they didn't have a color at all... His eyes were just black. No red, no grey, no brown, and _definitely_ no blues in the mixture. His eyes was _all_ black, blending in perfectly with his pupils.

_'Eyes... Wrong eyes... Why wrong eyes?'_ It didn't even take him a second to figure out the answer to that. The strange substance that he swallowed most likely changed his eyes to be a different color when it was changing the inside of his small-form, though he wasn't sure why it changed his eyes to be deep-blue when the substance was a ocean-blue/green color. His mind then went back to his memories, back to where he ate the pieces of Shadow's fur and back to the strange substance he was forced to swallow before the burning pain began to course through his body. _'Shadow's fur?... How fur make wrong eyes?'_

_His eyes... Shadow's eyes. What were they?_

The boy cocked his head to the side, his eyes still staring down at his reflection but his mind going through his past thoughts about his canine-friend.

_'Shadow's eyes?... Why Shadow's eyes?'_

_**Alpha-Brother Shadow same color eyes... Alpha-Brother's eyes blue, also.**_

And he knew that his instincts was right on that, since the turtle had always seen Shadow everyday at the pet store and had played with the wolf-dog when he first learned how to walk without tripping or knocking himself against his brothers, and the wolf-dog had always lowered his large-head to get a better look at the infant turtle, meeting eye-to-eye with one another... Black eyes always meeting moon-blue eyes for no more than the first two weeks of the infant turtle's life.

_Substance from Shiny likely merged with Shadow's fur inside stomach, changed inside of body to be like Shadow... Be wolf on inside._

There was no denying or arguing to what his conscience just said; deep inside, within his little-heart, the boy knew that he isn't as he appears to be. On the outside, he's just a little humanoid-turtle. However, on the inside, he was neither human or turtle, but a wolf, and the only physical sign of that proof but something that nobody will ever know of, is his non-black but deep-blue eyes.

_'Wolf... Me wolf...?' _He wasn't sure if he should be happy at the thought of being a part of Shadow, or if he should be upset that he's no longer a full-brother to his younger brothers. All he does know, is that he's different, neither a normal-turtle or a humanoid-turtle, and was going to have to live with that knowledge and feeling for the rest of his life as a humanoid-wolf/turtle. He was too distracted on keeping his gaze on the puddle below him, that he didn't realize a presence of another being standing about a yard or two away from where he sat.

"**Musuko **(son)?" Immediately, the blue-eyed turtle lifted his head up, his eyes widening in mere shock when his hearing caught the sound of a voice. He slowly turned his gaze from the other side of the tunnel to see what just spoke to him... Or should we say, _who_ spoke to him. When his eyes was locked on to the being that stood more than a yard away from him, was none other than the humanoid-rat who the turtle had helped soothed its distress cry from the bad dreams he had, wearing one of those weird-looking cloth made of sheep's wool that covers most of his body from the neck down. The boy thought it was large when it was laying down, but seeing it standing at its full height, it became like a giant humanoid-rat to the child, which made him feel afraid that the rat can easily hurt him if given the chance.

_**Keep distance. Unknown if friend or foe. Don't let guard down.**_

When the rat took a step forward, the child instantly got on all four and took a few steps back, shivering from both the cold of the rain-water still pouring down from the drain and fear that the giant-rat was going to hurt him, along with the possibility it also harmed his brothers already and came looking for him to do what it did to his brothers. When the child had taken a few steps away from the creature, the rat took half a step back and slowly got down on one knee, still having its form being able to tower over the child but no longer at its full height to scare the child any more than he already was.

"Do not be afraid, my boy." It said to the turtle, who stayed still where he stood on all four and slowly backing away a little more from the large-creature, preparing himself to run the moment the large-rat makes another move on wanting to attack him. "I won't hurt you... I would _never_ harm you, **Musuko**." Hearing that weird-word for the second time and not truly understanding what it meant, the boy cocked his head in confusion.

_'"Moosko?"... What Moosko?' _The large-rat then scooted a bit closer to the boy, though it remained sitting on his knees and stopped scooting up when it saw how the turtle's eyes were widen in fear and slowly backed away from the creature to keep them apart. Its Reddish-Brown eyes held relief and worry within their gaze, and then would shift to sadness the more the child would try to keep his distance from the creature and then, as if to scare him off or warn him away, would hiss at him.

"You have nothing to fear of me," it spoke again. "For I am not a threat, nor do I wish to be a threat to you." Deep-blue eyes narrowed in confusion to what the creature just said, though he knew that he heard that voice from somewhere but can't remember where at the moment.

_'Voice... Know voice... Where heard voice?... Trust voice?' _The large-creature can tell that the infant still doesn't seem to trust it and wasn't clearly understanding to what it was saying to him but seems to recognized its voice, so it tried a new tactic on gaining his trust.

"Little One," it started out gently and slowly. "I do not know if you can understand me or if you remember anything from your past life as a normal-turtle, but I was the human that took you and your brothers from the pet store when I sensed you four would help me get over my depression from my own past life that took away my loved ones, back when I still lived in Japan." It then smiled at the infant, recalling that day as if it were yesterday. "When I took you four out of the pet store, you hid inside of your shell in fear that I would harm you when I started to pet you, but then would snap your beak at my fingers when you saw me petting your brothers and hissed at me to leave you and your brothers alone."

The deep-blue eyes ceased their narrow glance at the rat, meaning that the boy was starting to see the rat to not be a threat but still confused on what it was saying to him.

"When I ran into a man after getting you and your brothers, I felt something off about him and decided to follow, only to had gave myself away when I accidentally stepped on a rat's tail and forced it to squeak in pain." Blue-eyes then widen a bit from what it was saying to him, forcing the infant to once again relive that very day that had changed his life, but the rat continued on its story. "I was soon surrounded by four people, who all wanted to keep me quiet in fear that I would tell anybody to what I saw, but I had fought and defeated all four of them, while at the same time protecting you and your brothers if any of them tried to grab you four and most likely harm you... After I had taken down the last man, he released his hold on a canister that he was supposed to pass on to one of his colleague when I had punched him in the face, which then landed on top of me and released its substance all around us."

Tears formed in its Reddish-Brown eyes, now making the turtle have the hurt feeling back in his heart and making him feel uncomfortable at seeing the rat upset, again.

"I didn't mean to release my hold on the bowl that kept you and your brothers in, but the substance felt like it was burning me alive and I couldn't stand the feeling of pain it had coursed throughout my body. I could not remember what happened during those seconds, except for the fact that my body was changing me and when the burning pain had finally subsided, I found myself no longer human and had been turned into the humanoid-rat you now see before your eyes." Tears finally streamed down its face, but were changed into tears of joy as its Reddish-Brown eyes stared into the boy's deep-blue eyes. "I Never thought that I would get the chance to see your eyes open, **Musuko**... I was worried you would never be able to open your eyes, let alone be able to pull through from the substance that had changed you and your brothers nearly over eight months ago." It then leaned in forward a bit towards the turtle, though remained kneeling where it sat, and then held its forearms out. "I know this may all seem very confusing to you and no doubt that you're having a difficult decision if you can trust me or not, but know this: I will _never_, in my entire life, would do anything to harm you or make you fear me... For I am your **Otousan**, your father, and you are my **Musuko**, my son." The turtle's heart was relieved of some pain that was inflicted on from the sad-look on the creature's face, though a few of those aches still lingers on inside of his small-chest and his curiosity grew when his mind registered what the large-creature just called him.

_'"Sun"?... Not Sun... Me not Sun... Can't stay in sky or warm day 'til dark.' _If he only knew how to talk or ask the large-rat what it meant, no doubt that both of their questions would be answered and the boy would be able to trust the rat that it won't harm him.

_Not 'Sun', as in glowing-warmth in the day. 'Son', as in his own offspring, his young... His child._

That was something the boy never thought his conscience would say to him, though it did made better sense to what the rat meant when it, or _he_, called him his 'son'. It would also explain to why he and his brothers carried the creature's scent and to why _he_ was sleeping with the turtles instead of harming or eating them. However, there was one thing that was bothering the back of the boy's mind.

_'He, my father?... Me, his young?...'_ The infant may not know many things and understood only a few words from his instincts and conscience, but he can definitely see a flaw to what the rat claiming to be his father, since he was a rat and the boy is a turtle. _'Different... Not same... How he father?... How me his?' _Then, as if someone heard his question and decided to give him a hint, he felt his hand sting when he lifted it off of the puddle underneath the rain-water, making him wince a bit from the familiar sting-feeling when he had gotten cuts from trying to walk up the steps back at the rat's den. When he held his right-hand towards his face to stare at the palm, he saw the red-liquid flowing out of the cut, merging with the puddle underneath him and being washed away to where the water takes it. Out of curiosity, he leaned in towards his hand and sniffed at the red-liquid, smelling the scent of iron... And, after taking in a few more sniffs, he could also smell another scent that he was already familiar with: Human-rat.

_**Blood... Carry blood of large-creature. Carry scent and blood of rat before us...**_

_You carry both his scent and blood... He your father, and you his young... His son._

Blue-eyes widen at the shocking discovery he just made and, after placing his hand back down into the puddle and staring back at the large-creature waiting patiently for him to come to him, he knew. both instantly and instinctively, that the rat doesn't have to gain his trust anymore; he already earned the boy's trust, for being his caregiver and his father.

_**He Alpha: He leader of Pack, who soon trains you, who makes you from Pup to Fighter... He who prepares you to freedom.**_

_He is your father: He family, who cares and protects you and your brothers, who will be there when you need him... He who shall always love you._

With both his instinct and conscience in an agreement of who the humanoid-rat is and knowing that he's needed with his family, his _Pack_, for the time being until he was strong enough to leave them, the boy slowly and quietly, on all-four, made his way towards the rat.

The rat smiled when he saw his son finally coming over to him, who then sat in front of him and patiently waited to hear or see what his father wanted him to do or what he, himself, wanted to do. Holding in his urge to scoop the turtle into his arms and keeping him within the protective hold of his arms, fearing that it would most likely scare the small-infant on thinking he was going to harm him, the large-creature slowly reached his hands out towards his son and, after keeping a gentle but firm grip on his little-body, pulled him agains his fur-covered chest. Tears of relief streamed down his face, as he gently nuzzled his son's head and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead.

"**Musuko**, my son, thank you for coming back to me." He whispered to the child, slightly tightening his hold on his little one, still having the feeling of fear in his heart when he had woken up from an odd feeling that something wasn't right and found only three of his sons sleeping beside him, instead of four. "I was worried that somebody from my dark past has came to our home and has taken you away from me... Just as he had taken my wife and daughter away from me, who both would've been your mother and sister if they were still alive on this very day." The aching feeling in his heart came back, making the child wince in pain from hearing the sadness in his father's voice and hearing the sad-beating tone in his own heart.

_Comfort him. He must remember you there for him, not alone._

Knowing that his conscience is right on how he has to cheer up his father, the boy slightly scooted up in the rat's arms and nuzzled his little-face into the black-fur of the rat's neck, gently patting and stroking the long-fur that tickles on his skin and letting out warmth he didn't realize that he needed from how cold he finally noticed he was. The rat smiled from the feeling of his son trying to cheer him up, along with the soft stroke to the neck he faintly remembers that had freed him from his nightmare of the night he lost his first family in Japan.

"You were there for me when I was hurting from the nightmare I was having, weren't you?" He asked his child, though knowing that he won't be getting an answer out of his child. He then slowly got to his feet, which startled the boy when he found himself higher above the ground and hid his face back into the fur of the rat's neck, which is also a sign and gestured of showing his submission to his father, placed his four-fingered right-hand on the back of his son's head while keeping his left-hand on the back of his shell, and slowly made his way towards the direction where his three remaining sons are still peacefully sleeping on their sleep-spot, back to their home. "There's nothing to be afraid of, **Musuko**. As long as you are within my grasp, I shall not let anything or anyone, not even the person who I once called my friend and brother, harm you or take you away from me and your brothers... Just as you were there for me, I shall be there for you... Leonardo." Lifting his head to the new word, the small-boy stared up in confusion at what his father just said. "Given time, you will learn and understand the name I have given to you, **Watashi no musuko** (my son). In time, you'll soon be able to embrace your given name, Leonardo."

_'Lee... Lee-in-are-doe?' _He knew on the way he tried to say his name didn't sound right on how his father pronounced it, but it was the closest way of his own way pronouncing the name his father displayed on him... However, it seems that his instinct and conscience knew how to say it correctly.

_You be able to say it right... You be able to call yourself, 'Leonardo'._

**_Pup, now has given name. Now known as 'Leonardo'._**

As his father continued on taking calming steps towards the direction of their home, their _den_, while keeping a gentle but firm grip on his child that's slowly starts to fall back to sleep in the comforting hold of the rat's arm, a few things came to thought in his little-mind, words he would never forget for as long as he lives and a secret he must never let his family, his _Pack_, know of unless he has no choice if they do find out.

_'Lee... Leonardo... Me, Leonardo... Leonardo, no human... No turtle... No wolf... Leonardo, humanoid-wolf/turtle.'_  
**End of Flashback...**

* * *

_I'm not sure how long I can keep this secret from them, and I can already tell they're noticing my strange behavior. Mikey thinks that I'm going through some sort of phase from becoming a teenager to a pre-adult, like the people in his favorite comic books do, even though we're all the same age and are born as quadruplets. Donnie thinks I caught something funny, but after five physical checkups and three tests for any signs of illnesses, Don came to a conclusion that I'm just simply stressed out and should take it easy every once in a while. Raph, as usual, thinks that I'm trying to be like Captain Ryan, a favorite character of mine from my favorite show 'Space Heroes', and decides to tease me whenever he thinks I'm trying to be Captain Ryan, whether the show's on or when we're not watching TV at all._

_As for Master Splinter... I can tell that he seems a bit concern and worry from the way I act differently than my brothers do, that I think he's beginning to see me as some sort of stranger that replaced his actual Leonardo. I also think he can smell the wolf inside of me, from the way he keeps on sniffing in the air and then would stare at me for a full five-seconds, which would make me feel very uncomfortable and wishing that I was back in my room to hide from his gaze._

_The reason why I behave differently for the last two years, is not only because that I'm the oldest of my brothers, but my instincts are kicking in and are having me to believe that I need to be responsible for my family's safety. I trained longer and harder than my brothers, so that Sensei will know I'll be able to protect them if we were ambushed or being attacked by an unknown enemy. On the bright side, because only the inside of me is wolf, it also means that my five senses are twice, maybe even three times, stronger and sharper than my brothers and they seem to match up to Master Splinter's senses, possibly even a bit better than his own. The down part, whenever Raph picks a fight with me and whenever I beat him, his continuous efforts to keep challenging me until he wins would make the wolf inside of me want to force him into submission and is willing to do whatever means necessary to get him to submit... Well, almost whatever means necessary, which is a major relief for me; if the wolf-side of me wanted me to go as far as to seriously injure Raph to have him near death, I'd rather injure and beat myself until I'm the one at death's door instead of living for the rest of my life with the guilt that I killed my brother and destroyed my family once they figured out why I did it._

_Sadly, that isn't my only problem I have at the moment... Lately, my instincts have been driving me crazy lately: Whenever there was a problem or there's something that has caught my attention, I would have this weird voice in my head, telling me what to do... And lately, as long as I could remember the moment I'd opened my eyes, it's been telling me to leave... And when I mean 'leave', I mean leave my family, my home, and go off on my own... Which I almost did so many times ever since I turned seven years old._

_The first time I attempted to leave them, I actually almost did it. After waiting for everybody to be deep in their sleeps in their own rooms, which I've waited until it was about two in the morning, I quietly got out of my room and silently made my way towards the entrance/exit of our home. The moment I was outside of the Lair, my heart was pounding with mere excitement and my legs were shaking with anticipation. I smile with the thoughts on where should I go and what should I do once I would be as far away from home and that's when I took off down the train-tracks on all-four. Despite Splinter having me to stop running on all-four and getting me to walk on just my feet like a '_**_normal _**_person' would do when I was still a toddler, I never stop doing what I love to do and what I'm good that, which is acting how I fit and see as _**_normal_**_ to me._

**_Yes... Freedom... Keep moving forward, and claim your freedom!_**

_I was going to listen to my instincts that time. I was going to ignore whatever my conscience was going to tell me and continue on with my plan._

_No!... Too soon! Go back! Your family needs you and you need them! Turn back!_

_By the time I've reached the ladder that leads to a manhole cover, I felt goosebumps running down my arms with excitement and when I grasped on one of the poles of the ladder, I knew that I would soon be getting my freedom and all I need to do his climb to the very top._

_You must stop! This isn't right, and you know that! Please, go back to the Lair and pretend this never happened!_

**_No, don't stop! Keep going! You're ready for this; Alpha has trained you to fight and survive, even allowed you to venture out in the sewers on your own! You're ready to leave Pack! They'll get over your departure and move on! Keep climbing!_**

_I made my climb up the ladder, my mind thinking and wondering what we should do the very moment we get up there, while my heart thumped in a fast rhythm of mere excitement that I'm finally going to do something for me and not my pack. I knew that once I get up to the surface, there was no going back and I wouldn't have it any other way. Just as I placed my hand on the manhole cover, I suddenly froze still... I wasn't sure what it was that stopped me, but the very moment I placed my hand on the manhole cover, my excitement and relief instantly vanished and were replaced with confusion and regret._

_You can't go! You have no idea what's up there, you don't know what to expect once you get to the surface and you're still a child! You have to stay down, learn about the world above the sewers from Father, then you'll be ready to leave._

_Even at the young age of seven, I knew that what my conscience was telling me was both the truth and a lie. It was right when it told me that I wasn't ready and still needed time, but it also lied to me that I'll be ready to leave once I learned what about the world above my Den, the Lair, from Sensei. But even when I knew that it was preventing me from leaving, I had to face facts that it was right and, reluctantly, so did my instincts._

**_Head back to Den. Pack mustn't know what you almost did. Remain with Pack, learn more from Alpha, then leave when you are older and stronger._**

_Letting out a breath of regret and staring up at the manhole cover above me for the last time, I quietly and slowly climbed down the ladder, ran back to the Lair on all-four, then __instantly made a beeline for my room after making sure by my hearing and smell that my Pack, my family, are still asleep and within their rooms... I still remember that feeling when I almost left the sewers, it was something that I've been wanting to feel for so long and wished to forever have that feeling be with me. However, if my instincts tells me that it isn't time, even if my conscience was the cause to have it change its mind, then it isn't the right time and my instincts had never let me down or lead me astray without reason. While as for my conscience, it always seem to know of the downfall or pour choice of decision my instincts would make and would come up with another suggestion that would either be safe for me to do, or to at least have my instincts get second thoughts of what I should do and would either agree with my conscience or come up with another idea that would be better than its last suggestion._

_I just really wish that they would **both** tell me when I can finally get out of here and leave this place behind; exploring the sewers had helped me burn off some energy and allowed me to be myself as I pleased, which includes running on all-four, letting out howls as loud as I can let out and to finally have my alone time all to myself. Unfortunately, it still wasn't enough and it'll never be enough if I'm going just through the same tunnels and sewers over and over again. And eventually, my alone time can easily be stripped away from me if my brothers were to follow me or pest me to have them come with me to explore the underground parts of New York City. Master Splinter has already taken away most of my free time I used to have in midday by having me join him in the extra-training and Meditation Sessions, I don't want him to take away my free time that I have on the weekends and force me to spend time with him and/or my brothers. Basically, Saturdays and Sundays, after morning Training Sessions, are the only days I have for myself and I'll be damned if he takes away whatever last chance of freedom and happiness I have down here!_

* * *

"Yo, Leo!" Michelangelo's voice cries out from the other side of Leo's bedroom door, gaining the older turtle's attention from writing any more of his thoughts into his journal. "Master Splinter wants us all in the Dojo to train." Leo let out a quiet sigh, happy and grateful that he has locked his bedroom-door so that his brothers would stop barging in when he was doing something, which has been sleeping, listening to music, drawing inside his sketchbook or writing in his journal.

"Kay, I'll be there in a sec." He informed his youngest brother through the door, who accepted the answer and has most likely walked away from the door when the oldest turtle heard his footsteps heading towards the living room. After hearing his brother leaving the room, Leo went back into writing into his journal before he would close it for the day and out to the Dojo.

* * *

_I keep asking myself, 'Why should I leave them?'... Better yet, 'Why haven't I left them already?', because lately, I've seen and thought of many reason to why I should leave them. Even though that we four have been born as quadruplets, I need my own space and time on being alone and away from my pack. Not only that, I've never truly bonded with my brothers on what we, all _**_four_**_ of us, would like to do together and simply pretended that I've enjoyed the activities they like to do._

_Mikey has a lot of hobbies and things he likes to do: Read comic books that he would find in the sewers, dance to whatever song he likes that plays on his boombox, draw heroes or all of us, cook (even though we've been eating Worms and Algae for the past thirteen years), pulling pranks on us (Especially Raph, even when he would end up getting pummeled in the end) and collecting whatever stuff he finds valuable._

_Donnie, his hobbies are mostly to invent whatever he thinks would be useful to us and what he thinks would be cool to make, or to fix and repair whatever item gets broken (mostly caused by Raph and Mikey). He also likes to conduct experiments, read books and showing off any kind of gadget he made for us to see and adore him (which at times doesn't really work on Raph and/or Mikey, considering they would end up breaking his new ideas or just leave his technologies alone when they seem boring)._

_The things Raph likes to do are simple: Beating up the dummy Master Splinter set up for us, picking on us because he's 'the strongest turtle' of the group, trying to get me to argue with him for nonsense reasons and spending some time with his pet turtle, Spike, who I've found a few years ago in the sewers. I figured somebody decided to flush him down for the fun of it and thinking that Raph needs a friend who he can talk to, without acting like a big softie and able to keep his "tough guy" ego, I've given him Spike to have as his own companion._

_Sensei enjoys meditating in silence (which half of the time isn't possible for him to get, because of my brothers making noises when they play), training all five of us as ninjas and having us all spending time together, as a _**_family_**_._

_As for me... I've always enjoyed art (mostly been doing drawing, since I would rarely find any paint that survived being thrown into the sewer waters), writing poetry, playing an instrument, sing (or in other cases, howl) to music, and go off into the sewers to explore any new areas I've never been to or to look for any items that would be useful to my pack._

_Unfortunately, none of my hobbies or ideas for fun never truly satisfy my brothers' interests and we would always end up playing childish games that either Sensei would suggest we play or a game my three brothers would agree to: Hide-n-seek, Tag (sometimes it would be Ninja-Tag), Leapfrog, Dodgeball (or Ninja-Dodgeball), Follow the Leader and a bunch of other childish games. They were just too easy for me and a waste of my time, that even both my instincts and conscience can agree to that (even though my conscience would tell me that I should try to enjoy whatever moments I have with my brothers, even when I'm not enjoying their choice of activity)._

_As for my bond with my father, it isn't all as it seems; the only way that I get to spend time with Master Splinter is by training, so I basically did the extra training and Meditation Sessions with him to spend time with him like _**_he_**_ always wanted to do, not because _**_I_**_ enjoyed or wanted to do it, myself... I guess when he saw me mimicking one of his Katas he's shown us at the age of four, he suggested that I should do extra training sessions with him and have me start meditating at an early age, stating that he sees a lot of potential inside of me that tells him I'm ready to advance at a higher level than my brothers... And I _**_hated_**_ him for that._

_Yes, I do love him and my brothers, and yes, I know that Sensei's doing this because he wants us to be prepare for the unexpected to come to us when we get older, but it's because of his 'suggestion' that I should do extra training and do meditation sessions with him, that Raph came to believe that I'm trying to be our father's favorite and is making it hard for me to try and bond with him even more than usual..._

_Maybe, it's about time that I should be planning on my escape, and this time, I'm gonna be sure that nothing is gonna be holding me back, especially if my family try to stop me from reaching my goal... I don't even care if I would have to make Sensei disown me in order for me to leave the pack, as long as I get my freedom and live the life I choose to have. Only then shall I truly be happy, and will continue on protecting/watching over them. I may want my freedom, but a wolf never betray or leave his pack unprotected, and I still made a vow and pledge that I shall protect my pack, my _**_family_**_... Even at the cost of my very life, I shall be there for them and will willingly put myself between them and to any signs of threat/danger that tries to come near them!_

* * *

"Leo, come on! Sensei's getting impatient on having to wait on you!" Letting out a groan of annoyance from Raph's yelling from outside of the door, wincing from the headache forming in his head because of his brother's choice of volume for his voice, before he decided to end his journal writing for now. Not waiting for a reply back and knowing that he was going to come out, Leo listens to his footsteps leaving his door, heading for the direction of the Dojo that their training has always been placed in.

"Happy Mutation Day to you, too, Raph." Leo murmured to himself, getting off his bed and onto his feet, as he made a quick grab for his two Katanas, Musashi and Kamiizumi*, placed them inside their sheaths and made his way out of his room. "And another day of going through Hell, for me."

**TBC**

* * *

For those who think it's a dumb idea to post this sort of story, I'm sorry to hear that you don't approve of my choice on how the story will go.

And for those who're wondering how Leo, even as an infant, to know what words to think of, just know that the Mutagen gave the turtles enough intelligence to have them think up the words and to understand some of their meanings, but not enough to have them speak the words until they learn how to pronounce them from Splinter. I just made up the date, which by the way is going to be their birth (or mutation; can't find an original birthdate for them for 2012 Universe). And we all know that Leonardo's Katanas are originally called 'Ninjatō', though I don't know why they still call them Katanas.

As for the flashback when he was eight months old, he doesn't know his name until after Splinter called him Leonardo (which is why I kept referring to him as 'the boy', 'turtle', 'child', etc...), he didn't know Yoshi was turned into a rat after he told the boy of the very day that changed their lives (that's why he was referred to as 'rat', 'large-creature', etc...) or that he was his father until he compared the scent of his blood to the scent Splinter fur's carry.

*: In TMNT IDW, Leonardo has named his Katanas: Musashi and Kamiizumi, and that's what they shall be called in the story (not sure if his brothers also named their weapons).

PS: There won't be any Leorai (I think that's the couple name for Leonardo X Karai) Apritello (I need to look up if that's their couple name or not), and especially _**NO**_ T-CEST. And yes, in my story, the turtles **are** Splinter's children (I don't believe in what the wiki say about the turtles being adoptive; they became humanoid-turtles when Yoshi was the last living-being that made contact with them, like the rat was the last living-being made contact with him, automatically making them his biological-sons by his DNA [and makes them half-brothers to Karai/Miwa]).

Okay? Okay. I hope there are at least some of you out there who will enjoy this story.

**R&amp;R**


	2. What the Heart Desires Most

After their evening training has finally ended, which ended up with Raphael being the victor (on account that Leo had allowed his brother to bring him down and win the fight) and his gloating giving him a good painful pinch in the neck by their Sensei, it was time for dinner, which is the same meal they've been having since Splinter could no longer steal food at the old grocery store when they were turning two: Algae and Worms. There are a lot of them in the sewers, practically growing within the sewers and near their Lair, which means there was no worries on how to find them if they ever ran out of the worms and algae they would save up inside their fridge and because there are a lot of worms in the sewers, along with their being a pool full of algae and worms inside of Donatello's Lab he would use for his experiments, the small family can eat as much worms and algae as they can... Which they reluctantly have no choice but to do so.

While Mikey was busy doing something with the remaining worms and algae that he has in the pot, the rest of the turtles and Splinter went into eating their share of worms and algae... Well, all except for Leo, again.

Though he has a plate full of algae and worms crawling out of the green-substance, he hardly has that much of an appetite that his brothers and Sensei have: Raph literally has an iron stomach, which means he could eat as much as he sets his mind on it. Donnie, though a bit slim but nowhere slim as Leo, could eat meals that can be two or three times bigger than the plate itself. Splinter, who can fast all day and still act like he isn't hungry, eats as if he hasn't eaten in days and won't gain a single pound from the food. Lastly, Mikey... He was an enigma; not only can he eat a lot, but he can eat anything... And I mean anything. While Raph has the iron stomach on how much he can eat, Mikey has an iron appetite to eat whatever other people would serve him to eat, even when he's been eaten worms and algae most of his life.

While the family digs in to their food, Leo simply stared down at the little creatures that are supposed to be inside his stomach and get digested already.

_**Algae and Worms... Again?! Not worth to be meal! Don't eat, leave table and stay in turf until night to find real food from tunnels!**_

Unfortunately, his stomach has something it wants to say and let out a growl that demands Leo to feed it, even if it means having to eat something that disgusted him for so long.

_Just eat the Worms and Algae already; You've hardly eaten anything for days now and your body's getting thinner, meaning it's getting weaker and easier for brothers to take you down while training. Push back your pride and eat._

And to prove his conscience's point, his stomach let out another growl, which was more of a big roar, which this time gained his brothers and father's attention from them eating their dinner.

_'Seriously, Leo!? You're not gonna eat, **again**!?'_ The red-bandana turtle yelled in his thoughts, glaring at his brother who sat on the right-side beside him, barely moving his chopsticks that he held in his right-hand that he was supposed to use to catch his dinner.

"Leonardo, a true warrior takes care of his body by finding whatever he can to fuel his strength and spirit, even if it's something that he doesn't want to eat. He does not neglect his health by forcing himself to starve." Splinter offered his Words of Wisdom to his eldest son, as he went back into eating the worms in front of him on his plate, though his face tells his sons of their father's dissatisfaction on eating the wriggling creatures. In response, Leonardo simply shook his head.

"I'm not hungry, Sensei." He told his father in a tired voice, as he stared down at his meal and lightly poked at the small-mountain of algae in front of him. While Mikey went back to whatever he's doing, though with a sad expression on his face on hearing his big brother refusing to eat, Donnie decided to try and get his brother to eat, since it was clear that Splinter's Words of Wisdom wasn't going to break through and convince him to eat, by using logic.

"Leo, it's been three days since you've eaten anything and your stomach's begging for food. You need to eat something or you'll make yourself sick, and to be honest, it growls much louder than Mikey's own stomach." He informed the older turtle, who rested his head in his left-hand and keep his gaze at the algae and worms, showing that he still won't eat. Raph would've snapped at this very moment and would've more likely to force-feed his brother, but then Mikey intervened.

"Well, if you aren't hungry for Worms and Algae, Leo, then perhaps you'll be hungry for..." He then pulled out something he had behind his back and then placed it on the center of the table. "This!" Donnie and Raph stood up out of their chairs and stare in amazement at what Mikey brought out before them, while Leo barely budged at all or registered to what his baby brother brought up.

"It's a cake!" Donnie stated, astounded by the sight before them. Raph, who got over his stunned moment, touched the makeshift cake and licked it.

"Made of... Algae." He and Donnie then saw a worm crawl out of the algae and making its away across the surface, looking for another spot to borrow itself into. "And... Worms." Letting out a deep sigh, Leo finally turned his gaze towards the makeshift cake, not looking in the least bit satisfied or interested on what Mikey to the remaining Worms and Algae.

"Mikey, what's the frosting made out of?" He sighed out his question, even when he knew what Mikey put on the cake, thanks to his strong sense of smell.

"You don't wanna know," the youngest answered his big brother. He then put on one of his biggest sunshine smiles and raised his makeshift cake in the air. "Happy Mutation Day!"

"Happy Mutation Day!" Raph and Donnie hollered back, also putting on one of their own cheerful smiles that they're finally going to be a year older than they are at that very moment. As usual, Leo simply stayed quiet and stared down at his plate of Worms and Algae.

"Ah, yes." Splinter said, also happy on having another year and birthday celebration with his four sons. "Fifteen years ago today, our lives changed forever and we became the unlikeliest of families." At his words, the eldest son nearly scoffed at what his father just said to them, knowing that them being a family was caused by an accident that shouldn't had happened in the first place.

"Tell us the story, Master Splinter." Mikey asked his Sensei, who always love to hear on how they were lucky to have been taken in and raised by the fifty year-old humanoid-rat.

"Michelangelo, I have already told it many times." Splinter chuckled in amusement, along with being a little bit surprised that still, to this very day, his youngest son would still ask their Sensei to tell them on how they became a family.

"Please! Pleeeease!" Before Leo could get the chance to get up from behind Mikey and making him cease his attempt on making their father telling them the same tale of their unfortunate lives changing, it was Raph who got up from his seat and placing a hand over his baby brother's mouth to keep him quiet.

"Please. It's the only way to shut Mikey up."

"Ah, very well. Many years ago, when I was still human..." Shaking his head from the way Splinter agreed to tell them the story, again, Leo tuned them out and simply stared down at his meal.

_'Another year older, and another day of being stuck down here. How is that not surprising?'_ He thought to himself, not paying attention to the story Master Splinter is telling his sons on the very day that changed their lives fifteen years ago. He then noticed that while he gotten to the part where he was fighting off the four strange men, that the humanoid-rat has brought out the exact canister that made them into what they are to this very day. _'And he still has that canister... Why does he even bother having that despicable garbage which caused us to become this?'_

"That was the beginning of our life together." Splinter wrapped up to the end of his story, holding out one of the few things that the eldest turtle completely despise with all of his hate. "It was the mysterious substance in this canister that, in a way, gave birth to us all."

"Mom..." Mikey sighed happily, hugging the canister as if it were an actual living being and probably imagining the canister to be what he believed his 'mother' would be like if she was with them, though it was hard to tell which 'mother' Michelangelo was referring to: His actual turtle-mother, who had laid her eggs in order for the four boys to exist fifteen years ago, or... Tang Shen, Splinter's deceased wife, who perished in the fire back in Japan from Hamato Yoshi's greatest enemy, Oroku Saki.

Raph and Donnie, after staring at their baby brother with a look that tells them they were a bit disturbed and a little awkward of Mikey calling the canister their 'mom' and hugging it as if it really was a person, both turned to their big brother, who has gone quiet and still refuse to eat his food.

"Ahem," the red-bandana grabbed the blue-bandana turtle's attention by making a sound as if he was actually clearing his throat. "Leo, isn't there something you wanted to ask Sensei about? Something important?" Deep-blue eyes narrowed in annoyance to his younger brother for wanting him to ask their father what they've always wanted to do ever since they were children, which had always ended up with the same answer.

_'Why bother asking him the same question, when he's just going to give us the same answer that he's been giving to us for a little over a decade?'_

_It doesn't hurt to keep trying. Who knows? Perhaps this will be the day he'll actually let you four go up to the surface._

**Alpha will most likely refuse... However, if not for Pup, ask Alpha permission to go to surface for Kins.**

Letting out a sigh and putting down his chopsticks, Leo turned to stare at their father, even though he refers to keep his gaze on the floor or anywhere else to avoid making eye-contact with Master Splinter.

"Sensei, now that we're fifteen, I think we're finally ready to go up to the surface, don't you?" At that, his three brothers also turned to stare at their father with smiles on their faces, hoping that this would be the very day to explore the world from above their home.

"Yes." To what the humanoid-rat just said, Raph, Donnie and Mikey cheered and were excited that he just said the one answer they've been waiting for so long. Leo, on the other hand, knew what wasn't the actual answer his brothers thought it would be.

_'Wait until he finishes, you guys.'_ He thought to himself, knowing what's going to happen and what else Splinter was going to tell them. He then stood from his seat and went to grab his family's dinner plates, dumping out the Algae and Worms in their garbage cans and wash the dishes in their sink.

"And no." Just as Leo had thought, he hid a smirk when he heard his brothers' excitement instantly go into disappointment and all three of them bowed their heads to express their disappointment.

"Oh, man, come on."

"Lame."

"I hate when he does that."

**Kins too easy to deceive, practically believe whatever Alpha say to Kins.**

_'Now that, I totally agree to.'_ Leo thought to himself, as he quietly made his way back to his seat and listen to what kind of excuse his Sensei has his reason for telling them such false hope.

"You have grown powerful, but you are still young. You lack the maturity to use your skills wisely."

"So, Sensei, isn't that just 'no'?" Donnie asked, feeling as if their father was going to try and trick them into believing they'll finally go up to the surface, but only to learn, once again, that he'll keep them below the surface.

_Donatello's wise enough to understand what Father's meant in his excuse, though he doesn't seem to get what Father is trying to say to all of you._

"Yes... And no." Splinter answered, making Donnie and Mikey confused on what he's trying to say to them if they could go up to the surface or not, while Raph let out another groan from the same answer they've just gotten and Leo simply stayed quiet. "Wisdom comes from experience. And experience comes from making mistakes."

"Aha!" Leo let out a silent sigh of annoyance from his second brother thinking he just figured out what their Sensei meant so quickly, when he really knew that it's not going to be what Splinter just said to them. "So in order for us to gain the wisdom, we have to make the mistakes." Donnie then smiled to what he believed to be in the meaning of Splinter's words. "So we can go."

"No." It was a bit too quick for Splinter to answer his intelligent son, which the eldest turtle knew was going to be his answer on Don's discovery and on them having to go up to the surface or not.

_'There it is, the actual answer to what Master Splinter means; trying to stall us a while longer to remain within the sewers.'_ Leo thought to himself.

"And yes?" Donnie asked, smiling and thinking that it was going to be one of those 'yes and no' answers that would tell him that he was at least be half-right to what their father's words meant.

"No!" The smile on Don's face instantly went away, feeling a bit down that his knowledge didn't help him on figuring out if they can go above ground or not.

"Oh...!" He groaned out, frustrated that it was obvious to him that they weren't going to go up.

**Omega-Brother Donatello isn't knowledgable all the time or know everything: Does not understand everything Alpha means to what Alpha speaks about unless Alpha becomes more specific, cannot figure out why Omega-Brother Michelangelo prank or pests Pack when nobody's around to interact, does not know why Beta-Brother Raphael always has to show dominance and bully Kins... Does not even know answer to why Pup's different than rest of Pack, for last fifteen years believe Pup to be humanoid-turtle and not humanoid-wolf/turtle.**

He then took quick glances at Mikey and Raph, who also had their heads down in dissatisfaction that their Sensei won't be allowing them to go up the surface. Although he was also upset that their father won't let them go, the eldest turtle actually prefers to stay down within the sewers instead of going up to explore the Human World above them, with his brothers he knows that he'll have to watch over and get them out of trouble if they were to cause any, like they would always do.

_'I'd rather be caged or chained to my bedroom, than to take responsibility over my brothers and their actions, like I've always done for them.'_

_Try speaking to him. Convince him to face facts that he'll have to let you all go up and experience the Surface World, even if he's reluctant to let you ... You may not get the actual freedom you've wanted, but at least you won't have to be stuck down here if he does let you go._

Leo almost let out a growl to express his anger to what his conscience had told him to do, but he held in that urge and, hating the feeling of his brothers sadness enveloping in the air and making his heart clench in pain, he went along with his conscience's plan.

"Sensei, we know you're trying to protect us, but we can't spend our whole lives hiding down here."

Splinter thought about what his eldest had said to him, turning his head to the side with his ears bent down a bit and stroking his long-beard, an expression showing the four turtles that he's either having second thoughts of his decision and was going to reconsider his plan on having them stay down or was thinking up a new excuse on keeping his sons down in the sewers.

_Looks like you might as well use the Trump-Card._

That time, Leo had to jerk his head up in shock to what his conscience just said to him, which they both knew that was something he would never do, even in a situation like this.

_'Okay, that's where I draw the line! There's no way I'm going to do that! Forget it!'_ He yelled in his thoughts.

_For this one time, push back your stubbornness and do the face; you know how much Father could never say 'no' when you all do the face._

_'Uh, yeah, when we were still toddlers. I doubt it's going to work on him, now that we're teenagers.'_

_It doesn't matter how old you four will be; you're all still his babies and no parent, no matter how old their children are, can ever stand to see the sad looks on their children's faces if refused to get what they want with all their hearts. Besides, Michelangelo still does the face and he can still gets what he wants because of the face._

_'That's because he's Mikey. He can get whatever he wants because he's the youngest in the family.'_

_But even when he does the face, Michelangelo never gets Father to allow him up to the surface, does he?_

_'...No...'_

_If Michelangelo couldn't convince Father to let him up to the surface on his own, then how would you know that he'll refuse if **you** and your brothers do the face, together?_

Leo knew that he couldn't come up with an answer for that, knowing that his conscience was right and has him trap to a decision on waiting for Splinter to stall or to use the trump card that would tip the scale on the debate. He nearly let out a groan of defeat when he had finally made his decision.

_'Just this one time, and that's it!'_ He then silently turned to his other brothers, quietly tapped on the table a couple of times to get them to stare up at him and after miming out on what they should do, all four of them swiftly kneeled in front of their sensei and all did the face that he could never refuse: The sad-puppy face, the look that they were all able to put on ever since they were toddlers whenever they wanted something Splinter would refuse to give to them. While Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo had used the face many of times, Leonardo rarely uses the face and only does the face whenever all three of his brothers are doing the face and has been told by his conscience to do the face with them. Not because he wants what his brothers wanted, but because his conscience wants him to keep whatever bond he has with his brothers to be as strong as it could get.

When Splinter noticed his four sons giving him their best sad-puppy faces and knowing that he couldn't stand to see them upset or admit that his eldest son was right on them can't always hiding from the surface forever, he finally made a decision.

"Hmm..." He let out a deep sigh, flattened his ears in regret on what he was going to tell his four sons. "You may go, tonight." Immediately as they turned off their sad-puppy faces, the three youngest brothers cheered in celebration on finally getting the answer they've been waiting to hear ever since they were children. While Leo, glad that he no longer has to use his sad-puppy face anymore, closed his eyes and put on a small smile on his face, secretly holding back tears of happiness on what he just heard his sensei tell them the news he wanted to hear for so long.

_'I hate to admit it, but you were right. Looks like the face has been able to convince Sensei to let us go.'_

_Told you it would work._

_**Now Alpha gave Pup permission to go above, Pup one step closer to freedom.**_

That, Leo frowned from what his instincts just told him, knowing that it was partially right but not entirely right.

_'Well... Not really anywhere close to freedom.' _He regretfully thought to himself, as he watch his three younger-brothers getting all jittery with excitement on finally being allowed to the surface. _'And, unfortunately, I'm gonna have to be responsible over my brothers and their safety, again, and take the blame for whatever stunt they'll pull or decision they'll make to have Sensei lecture me, again.'_

"High three!" Mikey cried out, raising his right-hand in the air for his brothers to do their usual 'high three insignia' whenever they've accomplished something or just for celebration to bring out smiles. Raph and Donnie had already placed their hands for the high three, while Leo simply shook his head and got to his feet, making his way out of the kitchen. "Yo, Leo, high three! Don't leave us hanging!"

"Too late, already am!" Leo called out, exiting the kitchen and making his way to his bedroom for some alone time before they get ready to leave. However, before he made it to his bedroom-door and had placed his hand on the door-handle, a hand on his shoulder stopped him from going inside and turned his head to see it was his sensei that prevented him from going into the comfort of his room.

"Leonardo, may I have a few moments of your time?" Leo let out of a small breath of disappointment.

_'As if you've never taken "a few moments" of my time already? Yeah, right! Like you'll actually let me have a say in this, let alone leave me if I tell you "no" or "some other time".'_

_**Don't disrespect or argue with** **Alpha. Alpha will surely punish Pup if hears Pup say that to Alpha, and Pup knows Alpha can get into mind if Alpha so chooses to **_**_trespass into depths of Pup's mind.  
_**

"Can't this talk wait for another time, Sensei?" He asked, even when he knew that was going to be too much to ask from his sensei to simply let him get off from a talk he knew it was going to be about. "If it's about us going to the surface and wanting me to be sure I keep my brothers in line, you know that I'll keep them out of trouble and make sure we don't expose ourselves to the humans." He then pulled his door open and was about to walk his way out of his father's grasp, but the four-fingered hand held tight and stopped him from going inside.

"That isn't what I wish to speak to you about, Leonardo, and I'm afraid this talk cannot wait for another time." Knowing he wasn't going to be getting out of the conversation, again, Leo closed his bedroom door and turned himself to face his sensei, though he kept his gaze to the ground.

"Very well, Sensei." He forced out, keeping a calm-tone and face to assume he was alright but was loathing and feeling a stabbing feeling in his heart on the inside. "What is it that you wish to speak about?" _'Is it about my continuous eating habits, that you're still trying to get me to stop? My loss to Raph, because I simply let him win in order to avoid having another argument with him and getting my headache to build up even more than it already has? Me being almost a minute late for Evening Training Sessions, because I wish to write out my emotions into my journal? Or probably have you to face the fact that we can't stay down here for the rest of our lives, and somehow forced you to let us go up?'_

_**Remember what position Pup's in of the Pack. Must listen, obey and show respect to Alpha. No exceptions, arguments or judgement.**_

_'Aren't I a little old to still be referred to as a 'Pup'?'_

**_Pup's still minor and still learning, meaning Pup's still a pup and right now, Pup must listen to Alpha._**

It took every once of Leo's Will and inner strength to not let out a growl or let his anger get the best of him, as he kept his gaze to the floor and silently waits for his sensei to speak to him, which he finally did after two minutes of silence going on around them. He heard Splinter let out a deep sigh.

"Leonardo," he started. "Why do you refuse to look me in the eye when all I wish is to simply have a few moments of talking with my eldest son?" He received no answer from his eldest son, who still refuses to meet him eye-to-eye, another sign and gesture to show his respect and submission to his sensei. With a calm, blank face, Splinter placed a hand underneath Leo's chin and lifted his head up, though he still refused to turn his gaze to meet his father's Reddish-Brown eyes. "**Musuko**, will you please look me in the eye and not act like I'm going to strike you if you do meet my gaze?"

_'No, I don't want to meet your gaze.'_ He thought to himself, feeling the headache building up and his heart clenching as if someone's trying to make him suffer in his self-hatred towards himself._ 'I don't want you see the anger being held through my iris', or to see you try to read me like a book... But most of all, I don't want _you_ to see my fake-eyes that you believe I've been born with but had actually been changed from that substance your 'birth-giving __canister' **bestowed** upon me. Me showing my submission and not meeting your gaze, it's a reminder that I'm not who you all believe me to be and that you shouldn't trust me.'_

_**Nevertheless, Pup, Alpha still your Alpha and Pup do what Alpha tells Pup to do.**_

Finally being able to calm his beating heart and hide his anger, Leonardo slowly turned his gaze to stare into the eyes of his sensei, who smiled softly at finally being able to meet his eldest son eye-to-eye.

"**Arigatō, watashi no musuko** (Thank you, my son)," the rat thanked his son. He then removed his hand from Leo's chin, knowing that his son won't have his eyes turn his gaze. "Now, as for my question I wish to ask you... Are you happy?" Surprised by the question, Leonardo wasn't sure what to say or how to react, except by cocking his head to the side and staring up at his father with a confused look on his face.

_'That's_ it?' He asked himself, his anger melting away and his headache easing the ache off of his mind, but still throbbing and making him unable to have a clearer head on what he should say._ 'That's all he wants to talk to me about, if I'm happy? What sort of question is that?! Of course I'm happy!... Aren't I?'_

_That is a good question... Are you really happy, especially now that you can finally go up to the Surface World like you and your brothers always wanted? Or are you just simply saying that, because your brothers are the ones truly happy and are pretending to go along with what they're doing?_

Ignoring what his conscience said to him, Leo made up his answer.

"What do you mean by that, Sensei? Of course I'm happy," he replied. "I mean, why wouldn't I be happy?" He put on his best kind-smile, a smile that wasn't too big to be obvious that he's forcing himself to smile but just enough to hide away his displeasure on not knowing if he truly is happy or not. Though he had to play innocent and pretend that he isn't one of the best liars in the family, there does come a time where Leo would actually be able to make something up and lie about it in order to prevent his family from getting anywhere closer on noticing his estrange behavior isn't from being a moody teenager like his brothers are. And at this moment, he was making up a lie and he knows from the worry look in his sensei's eyes, he's not going to get caught on lying. He then put on his own worry-look on his face, though he mostly puts it on whenever he sees the worry or sadness on any of his family's faces, which he at times wonder if he really is worry for his family or it was just a mask that he randomly puts on whenever they were upset. "Is there something wrong, Sensei?"

At his question, Splinter simply let out a deep sigh and shook his head, a gesture and sign to Leo that there is but doesn't want to talk about it.

"**Iie** (No), my son. I simply wanted to check up on you... You just appeared to be a bit unhappy lately: You haven't eaten in the last few days, Raphael has been able to beat you during Evening Training, and your brothers and I had noticed you've been spending much more time in your bedroom and less time with us in the Family Room most of the day."

_'Oh, really? Gosh, I haven't noticed.'_

_Don't go placing the blame on him; he's just doing what any normal parent would do: Worry about their kids and their safety. Do not make him feel as if it's his fault you're acting like this._

Leonardo quickly made up his answer.

"There's nothing to be concerned about, Sensei. I've just been drowsy from our late night Family Time and I got this headache that's been bothering me lately." It wasn't a complete lie, which means Splinter won't be sensing his chi or aura to signal the rat that he's making it up and is all in the clear to go up to the surface with his brothers. The worry in Splinter's eyes instantly decreased, though they still held a few of that worry on hearing his son being more tired than usual and about the headache getting in the way of his son's concentration during their Training Sessions.

"**Hontō **(Really)?" Splinter asked, wondering if the condition his son told him he was in would effect him on having a good time and unable to keep his brothers in line while up to the surface.

"**Hai **(Yes), Sensei, but my headache is already going away and I'm still awake enough to still go up with my brothers." Splinter knows it was wise to never underestimate his son's strength and ability to keep up with his brothers, but that wasn't what makes the rat worried about.

Whenever he allowed his sons to go explore the sewers and tunnels when they turned into their double-digit age, his three younger sons would always be together and are the ones to always return to the Lair an hour or two before five o'clock. However, whenever Leonardo goes off to explore, he would always go off by himself and return to the Lair a few minutes before Evening Training Session starts. Now that he's allowing his sons to up to the surface, on their own, and despite them most likely wanting to see everything of New York, he was more concerned about Leonardo not returning home on time with his younger brothers and something else that truly terrifies him ever since the boy was ten years old.

_'But that won't happen,' _the rat thought to himself. _'He hasn't tried to pull it off ever since his brothers and I caught him trying to do 'it' when he was ten. Besides, his brothers will be with him and they won't let him get the chance to pull it off. I should have nothing to fear about Leonardo doing anything funny, not while he and his brothers explore the city that sits above our home. This is, after all, what he's been wanting to do for so long... Right?' _"If you believe you can last as long as your brothers, Leonardo, then I see no reason on preventing you from going up top." Happy to hear that his father won't keep him cooped up and is still allowing him to go up top, Leonardo put on his real smile on his face, a smile that he rarely puts on when he truly is feeling happy, then bowed in respect to his father and went to grab the door-handle to his bedroom.

"Thank you, Sensei." After saying his thanks to his father and without a second of hesitation, Leo went into his room and closed the door, locking it just in case one of his brothers try to barge in. He then made a quick grab for his sketchbook, which was placed beside his journal on a small desk that stood on the left-side of his bed, and quickly flipped through the pages to his recent drawing that he recently started to work on: It was a drawing of an open plain, with the field of grass being drawn with some shades of greens from some of Leo's colored-pencils, the sky in a mixture of blues and whites and the clouds having some grays into the mixture of their image. He also added in a few wildflowers into the field, a little stream in-between the first two hills from at the right-side of the paper, even a few oak trees in a couple of spots into his drawings.

He smiled at the progress of his artwork, which has been inspired from a certain dream he had a few nights ago: He found himself within the darkest-tunnels of the sewers, no lights to guide him the way out but his eyesights allowing him to see better within the darkness, thanks to his wolf-DNA within him. He was all alone and couldn't hear, nor smell out his brothers or sensei, and yet, he was okay with that and wasn't a bit scared of being alone within the darkness. Then, as if someone has found the light switch, a large flash of white-light popped up from behind the turtle, acting like a beacon to help the turtle out of the darkness. At first, he was a bit hesitate on following the light, since Splinter had told him and his brothers some stories of people who follow a bright-light at the end of a dark-tunnel always mean they're dead and are leaving Earth for their eternal rest in a new world, but the light was so beautiful to the turtle and couldn't help himself but walk towards the light. When he made it towards the light and walked into it, he was shocked to find the light has taken him out of the sewers and to a place of such beauty: Fresh plainfield of grass gently swaying with the gentle breeze from the wind, wildflowers releasing their glorious scent of nature and life, strong trees standing out tall and proud and reaching towards the light-blue sky as far as their green-leaf covered branches could reach, fresh stream water glistering its way towards the far horizon of snow-covered mountains...

A few tears of happiness came out of his deep-blue eyes without warning, but he didn't bother to wipe those tears away; that dream of his was so perfect, so beautiful, so unspoiled, it was hard to find the right words to describe how he felt about that place from his heart. To him, that place was Heaven... That place was _freedom_, itself.

_That dream, it was so wonderful. If such a place truly exist, we should find it and once we do, we should bring the rest of the family to witness its glory and wonders._

_'Yeah... if only it truly does exist...' _Leo thought to himself, as he finally used his left-hand to pull up his mask a bit to wipe away any more tears that were to come out of his eyes, not wanting his brothers and/or sensei to know he's been crying for something that'll seem ridiculous and idiotic to be crying over a simple dream. Luckily for the turtle, none of his tears got on to his drawing or left any tear-stains into his mask, meaning that his family won't be knowing about his little crying-moment for a dream he wished to come true but knows it'll never happen. He then heard a couple of knocks coming from his door, stopping him from drawing the wildflowers he was working on.

"Yo, Leo, you ready? It's go time!" Once again, it was Michelangelo that came to get him out of his bedroom and ready for their first time up to the surface.

_**Still not what Pup wish to get. Not true freedom, not the actual freedom Pup wants. Alpha most likely has Pup in charge to watch over Kins, while Omega-Brothers and Beta-Brother keep Pup on toes as Kins fool around the surface.**_

Leo let out a deep sigh from his instincts' words.

_'You don't have to remind me that; I already know what's going to happen,' _he thought to himself.

"Leo, did you hear Mikey? It's time to go!" That time, it was Donatello that called out from outside of his bedroom door, who almost sound like he was going through his own Mikey-like stage.

"Yeah, I heard. I'm coming out!" The eldest turtle replied back, quickly scribbling a few words onto the bottom-left corner of his drawing before placing it back on the bed and getting to his feet. After unlocking the door, he exited his room and swiftly made his way towards the living room, with part of his mind going back to what he has written into his drawing: "_In a Dream of an Illusion..."_

* * *

"You are going up to a strange and hostile world." Splinter told his four sons, walking as if he were their general and then standing in front of them as their commanding officer. "You must maintain awareness at all times."

_**Alpha must always be firm and strict, enforcing Pups to listen to every words.**_

"Hai, Sensei!" The four turtles said in a unison, then quickly turned to make their gateway.

"Stay in the shadows." Splinter added, stopping them from running off.

**_Alpha must always remind Pups; never forget training to protect or defend themselves when not under protection of Alpha._**

"Hai, Sensei!" The four turtles said again, getting back to their spots in respect and showing they're still listening to their sensei, before trying to make their gateway, again.

"Don't talk to strangers!" Splinter quickly added, ceasing the boys, again, from running.

_Every parent must inform their children to never talk to anybody who they don't know._

"Hai, Sensei!" For the third time they said, standing back into their spots and trying to get away from another of their father's adding lecture and warnings.

"Everyone is a stranger!" The fourth time Splinter stopped his sons from getting away, his worry as a parent making it hard for him to let them go from under his watch and not within the sewers with him.

_...Every parent has to be overreacting and remind their children of some things they already know of?_

"Hai, Sensei..." The boys groaned out, this time lazily staying put where they stood in front of the mutated-rat, before making a run towards the old-subway's turnstile. They actually thought they were going to make it out, without another lecture or warning from Splinter, until...

"Make sure you go before you leave! The restrooms up there are filthy!" The four boys halted in their steps, now feeling embarrassed and very irritated of their father holding them back from getting up to the surface.

_'Seriously... Is embarrassing your child for __nonsense reasons or trying to keep your pups by your side, something every parent and/or Alpha supposed to do?' _Leo asked to himself, almost blushing from what Splinter told them on the last sentence.

_...Yep!_

_**Pretty much...**_

_'...And I thought my brothers are the only that pests me enough to get on my nerve.'_

"_**SENSEI!**_" The four boys called back to the rat, a way of telling him to stop worrying over them and to let them go already. Knowing that he mustn't hold them back any longer and it was time to let them have their fun, Splinter let out a deep sigh and smiled at his sons.

"Good luck, my sons." That was all they needed to hear and as fast as their legs could take them, they leap over the turnstile and cheered in excitement.

"I am so pumped!" Donatello exclaimed.

"Surface time!" Raphael cried.

"This is going to be epic!" Michelangelo hollered.

Leonardo, as usual, stayed quiet and simply described his happiness from within his mind.

_'It's finally happening... It's actually happening... There's absolutely nothing that could take away my cheerfulness!'_

_"Look both ways before crossing the street!"_ Instantly, the smile on his face went away and was replaced with a scowl, thanks to his sharp-hearing that allowed him to catch one last warning from their sensei.

_...You were saying?_

_'Spoke too soon, I guess.' _Leo thought to himself, leading his brothers towards the direction to where the closest manhole-cover was at... Which was in fact the one, and only manhole-cover, that he tries to reach to and make his escape at, ever since he was seven.

_Don't get so down. Be happy! After fifteen years living down in the sewers, you're finally going to get your wish! You're finally going up to the surface!_

_**May be true, but this isn't type of freedom Pup wants or asked for. This not the freedom Pup crave for!**_

_'Urg, you think I don't know that? I'm also unsatisfied that this isn't how I want to gain my freedom!... Although...' _He paused in his mind, as he and his brothers made it to the ladder and started to make his way up. _'With all of us going up to the surface at this very moment and given time that we know more about the Surface World, I might be able to know where my brothers will be going and when I do leave the Pack, I'll know every hiding-spots for me to use when watching over them if danger were to ever come.'_

**_...Excellent and well-thought-out planned, Pup._**

_Hate to admit it, but that is a very good idea. I doubt that even Donnie would've thought about doing that, considering that you'll all be sightseeing for a good while and get distracted by the many wonders of the Surface World._

Once he and his brothers finally made it to the manhole-cover at the top of the pole ladder, Leo's heart instantly raced in a fast rhythm.

_'Well... Here goes nothing.' _With his hand on the cover and having to no longer feel the guilt and confusion that has always prevented him from leaving his family, Leonardo pushed the manhole-cover up.

* * *

**Now on the Surface, New York City...  
**As soon as part of the cover was lifted from its spot and but still held down a bit, Leo quickly scooped out part of the area around him, in case any humans were around that might see them coming out of the sewers. Seeing no humans around and after quietly placing the cover off to the side, he finally came out of the hole and gets to fully see what was around him and he has to say... It wasn't that very impressing: Trash littered out all over the ground and against the brick-walls, graffiti markings, old and new, completely marked up every wall he sees around him, rats running all over the place in search for food. Heck, there was even a homeless guy, sleeping on a tossed-out mattress and not knowing there are four giant, mutated-turtles standing right beside him, without a care in a world as he sleeps the night away.

_'Huh... So, this is the Surface World our Sensei used to live in fifteen years ago?' _Leo wondered in thought, staring out to the other buildings on the other-side of the street and anywhere else that he hasn't already seen that could gain his interest, which wasn't very much. He then smirked and shook his head. _'Not very much has changed since we were last here, fifteen years ago. I mean, even though I was two weeks old when I was still living in the Pet Store, I can still remember what the area around us were like when we were about to taken to Sensei's home before we became humanoid-animals, which looks like nothing really changed._

"It's so beautiful." Leo turned to stare at his baby brother, who doesn't seem to care that the trash are littered the ground and street or part of the buildings have been vandalism by the Graffitis.

_'Well, with Mikey being... Err, Mikey, I shouldn't really be surprised that he would think that up here is "beautiful", let alone not being able to recall his past life as a regular turtle.'_

"Well, let's go explore the city, you guys!" Raph called out, already going on ahead of the group to lead the four of them to wherever the wind takes them.

_**Beta-Brother Raphael thinks ready to lead Kins? Not ready for responsibility.**_

_'And who do you think should lead? Mikey gets too sidetracked very easily, along with having a short attention span, and Donnie will want to observe as much as he can of his new discoveries of the city, which includes to whatever kinds of electronics that he finds to be intriguing.' _Leo thought to himself, as he brings up the rear of their small-group as he walks on the sidewalk. He then ceased his walking, when he noticed Donatello being too busy at gawking at some computers being held out for display from the inside of a store through the glass.

"Look at all the computers!" The genius turtle stated, astonished at the high-tech electronics that he wished to obtain that would make his job in the lab much more easier and look more like a lab should be as. "Is that the next generation cadmium processor, with quantum encryption?" Raphael, who stood behind his younger-brother, decided to humor his brother.

"I don't know, Donatello. Is it?" He sarcastically asked, which should be a clear sign to tell that he thinks whatever his genius-brother is so intrigued about is lame and for nerds with no spines.

"It is!" Donnie replied back, too excited to even notice Raph not taking his interest by heart or to even argue to his brother on teasing him.

"Guys, guys! Check this out." Michelangelo's voice brought the eldest and the two older turtles from their attention to the computer-shop, to where their youngest-brother stood in front of a another building that claims that a Fortune Teller works inside of it. In front of the window, was a a light formed in the shape of a human-hand. "A hand made out of light." The purple-light of the human-hand turned off, being replaced by a blue-light within the center of the hand, this time in a form of an eye. "Now it's an eye made out of light." Just like the hand, the blue-lights of the eye went off and the purple-light of the hand came back on. "And the hand again!" Then the eye came back on. "Now the eye's back!" And then the hand flashed up to life, again. "Now the hand!"

Having enough of his brother's inability to give it a rest and to get it through his mind that the hand and eye will keep flashing like that, Raph grabbed for Mikey's tail-mask and pulled him away from the window.

"Come on, genius." He told his youngest-brother, having no trouble on dragging the orange-band turtle away from the window.

"The eye!" Was all Mikey could say and once he was away from the shop of the Fortune Teller, his attention span at the lights were gone. Leonardo chuckled quietly at what came before him, shaking his head on having to be right

_'Like I said, too __intrigued and too distracted that has them unable to truly lead the group.'_

_...Well, what about you?_

Leo stumbled a bit to what his conscience just asked him, a bit surprised of the question being tossed to him, but staying firm on the sidewalk, while keeping an eye on his three brothers, who all stood in the middle of the street.

_'"Me"? What about me?'_

_Since you basically ruled out Donatello and __Michelangelo at being leader, and since we all know Raphael's too brash and arrogant on being the best, it seems like you are the only logical choice on leading your brothers._

Leo let out a deep sigh, then lifted his head towards the stars out in the night-sky.

_'You both know that I have no intention on being leader, especially since Master Splinter is the leader of our family and I have no means on wanting to take his place as Alpha. Besides, Raphael has always wanted to be leader for such a long time and I have no rights on taking that away from him. And who knows? Maybe he'll gain some knowledge and experience on how to lead us, while we explore the city or if we ever come across a threat.'_

"Ah!" A scream broke through his lost in thoughts, which from how Leo could guess, Raph has decided to playfully scare a human-teenager, who came to a halt when he saw three large-turtles standing in his way of the road, and made a quick drive back to where he came on his vehicle, not noticing a box that was sitting in the back of his motorcycle has fallen out from the back and now left behind on the road.

_**More like Beta-Brother going to be threat, then encountering threat.**_

Holding in a groan, the blue-masked turtle quickly made his way to his three brothers, glaring at his red-masked brother who showed to have completely enjoyed scaring the human, as if he enjoyed pretending to be a monster to the human.

"That was kinda fun." Leo nearly face palmed himself at his brother's remarks.

_'Yeah, like you always having to roughhouse or chase Mikey all over the sewers, is your way of having fun.' _"We're too exposed out here." While keeping his hearing out for any sound that would alert him if any more human were to come out, Leo swiftly have his eyes look for anywhere that the four of them will be able to hide and not be too exposed for any humans to see them.

_**Too much lights! Find spot where lights don't brighten so!**_

_'Urge, I know that, but so far the only spots where there aren't any lights are the alleys and I doubt that the guys would want to stay hidden with places that are covered and reeks of garbage.' _He also tried using his sense of smell to give him some sort of idea to where human-scents are to least hang out at, but because of the hundreds, maybe even thousands of scents going up in the air and around him, it was too much for the turtle to try and pick one scent to follow or to guide him. _'I guess there was a good reason on why I didn't leave home when I was still a child; this city's a major jumbo of messes, I can't even think clearly with all of this noise going on.' _His eyes then looked up to the rooftops, where after he took a few sniff in the air for the scent of the roofs and seeing how there are no lights being lit above, Leo finally found their temporarily safe haven from the streets of the city. "Come on." He told his brothers, leading them to the other side of the street and using a fire escape ladder to swiftly climb up to the top of a building.

* * *

Once on top of the roof and no longer on the streets of the city, Leonardo could finally catch a breath of fresh air, which still held the many scents of the city but not as suffocating or intoxicating than the streets now below them.

_'Hmm... Much better,'_ he thought to himself. _'It may still be very noisy and too much smells going around, but at least up here isn't too bright or hard to catch a breath.'_

**_Pup get use to atmosphere of city, eventually. Probably take time, but will master _****_environment of city around Pup and better control over senses._**

_And speaking of control... Nice Leadership you did back there, leading your brothers off the street and onto the rooftop. You sure you don't want to become leader?_

_'Yes, I'm pretty certain that I don't want to be leader.' _Leo thought to himself, slowly making his way towards an edge of the rooftop and staring down at the street below him. A couple of cars passing by, a few humans walking normally on the sidewalk and minding their own business, an alley cat and a couple of stray dogs digging into the garbage cans in search for food or making themselves comfortable in their new territories.

_If you don't mind answering a question: What was that of you back there, giving an order to your brothers to follow you, when you claim to not want to lead?_

_'...I don't know. Instinct, I guess, or maybe because of my role as the eldest son to keep my younger-brothers in line, just as I always had to do when being forced to watch over them and being the most responsible one in the group.'_

"'Pis-zaw'?" Michelangelo voice brought Leo out of his conversation with his conscience and instinct, though he continued to keep his gaze down to the street of New York.

_'We'll discuss about this later,' _he thought to himself. The eldest brother then turned his gaze to the left, glancing at his three brothers studying over the white-box Mikey picked up off the road that was left behind by the human-teenager Raphael scared off.

"Should we open it?" Donnie asked, unsure if whatever was inside the thin-box is harmless or could be dangerous to him and his brothers. Leo had to only sniff once in the air at the box and knew instantly that the box held no danger to them, which had also made his stomach growl louder from the smell the turtle inhaled.

_'That's odd,' _he thought to himself. _'All I did is sniffed at the box's scent, and it has already reawakened the growling of my stomach... Could whatever that's inside of the box actually be dangerous, and is having its scent covered in order to not be detected as a threat? Might be best to warn them.' _"It might be dangerous, so be careful." He cautioned his brothers, before turning his gaze back to the city before his eyes. Within seconds, he heard somebody, who he assumes to be Raphael, considering he was the toughest and bravest of the bunch, opening the box and no longer had the box was open did the eldest turtle also heard the sound of sizzling and hissing.

"I think it's food." Donnie suggested, no longer afraid of the object sitting before him and his brothers when he saw it wasn't a living-being but still uncomfortable on not knowing if it's safe for them to be around it or not. Keeping his eyes over the city but keeping his hearing towards his brothers, Leo was relief to know that whatever the youngest-turtle picked up off the street wasn't considered to be dangerous to them.

_'Human-food, huh?' _He thought to himself, which had once again made his stomach growl in demand for food. _'No wonder it didn't smell dangerous and has made my stomach growl; Algae and Worms don't hold any sort of scent near to whatever this "Pis-zaw" food has... Although, we can't know for sure if this human-food is good for us, unless one of us tries it out.'_

"It's not like any food I ever saw." Raph stated, wondering on what those red-spots are supposed to be all over the yellowish-white stuff of said food.

_'And of course, if there's one person I know who has the guts to try out new things...'_

"I'll try it."

_'It's Mikey.'_

_You're not worried of him trying it? Human-food could be poisoning to you four._

_'If it was poisoning, I would've brought out Musashi and Kamiizumi before one of them could lay a hand on the box to open it and then slice up both the human-food and box into pieces for only the birds to eat.'_

"Mm! Mm." Leo smirked at hearing the satisfaction of his youngest-brother enjoying the human-food.

_'Anyway, from the sounds of Mikey scarfing the human-food in just a couple of bites, it's safe to say that the food isn't poisonous and seems to be the best food Mikey has ever eaten in his entire life.'_

"Uh, yuck. You guys won't like it. I'll take the rest." In an instant, both Donnie and Raph immediately grabbed for a piece or two of the food their baby brother just eaten a piece of, wanting to know what the human-food tastes like, for themselves.

"No way!" Donnie protested, stopping the youngest-turtle from taking away the food.

"Back off!" Raph ordered, quickly grabbing his own piece of the human-food in case Mikey somehow gets away with the rest of the food. Soon, all three of the younger brothers are munching away the human-food before them, devouring their own picks of the pieces in mere seconds. "I never thought I'd taste anything better than worms and algae, but this is amazing!"

"I love it up here!" Mikey cried out into the sky, not caring if the humans are to be able to hear them up on the rooftop or not, as he went back into eating the human-food. Leo smiled at hearing his brothers enjoying their very first human-food, happy to know that their time up in the city is so far going better than the three turtles expect it would be.

_**Sounds like Omega-Brothers and Beta-Brother having hell of a fun time up on surface, especially on how Kins are scarfing human-food as if it was Kins very first kill Kins had in weeks.**_

_'Yeah... It sure does sounds like it.' _Then, for the third time, his stomach let out a big growl, practically begging its owner for food that his three brothers are eating away with glee. The moment his growl let out its desperate cry for food, the munching from the three younger turtles ceased and Leo knew that his stomach is the cause for the sudden silence. _'__Ugh, forgot about my stupid, stomach problem.'_

_Well, if you had eaten the Worms and Algae, like you should had, then your stomach wouldn't be growling for food._

_'Yeah, and if I had eaten any Worms and Algae today, I would've been puking my guts out and Master Splinter might've kept me inside the Lair! You know very well of my refusal on eating Algae and Worms every day, let alone why I eat less than the others do.'_

_You may have a reason and point to your choice of action, but it doesn't mean you shouldn't try to eat a little more than you would normally eat; you're going to destroy your body and will eventually end up being weaker than your brothers, if you continue on this nasty habit of yours._

_**"Weak"? Pup nowhere near term "weak". Pup can easily take down Beta-Brother Raphael and be on equal battleground with Alpha, but Pup chooses to hold back true strength and keep hidden from Pack unless Pup goes up against foe with brute strength. As for Pup's eating habit, may be causing Pup to tire out quicker than Omega-Brothers and Beta-Brother, but at least trained self to last without food much longer than Kins or Alpha.**_

"Hey, Leo, get over here and try out this food, man!" Raphael called out to the eldest brother, who hadn't moved from his spot ever since they came up to the rooftop.

"Yeah, Leo, you've got to try this Pis-zaw food, man; it's, like, the greatest food ever made in existence!" Michelangelo added in, who was trying to reach out one of the last two pieces of the food but ended up getting his hands slapped away from the pieces by Donatello.

"And you might want to hurry and eat this stuff, before Mikey eats the rest of it." Rather than listening to Raph and Donnie, Leo simply turned his gaze back to the left-side to stare at his three brothers, then down at the two slices of the human-food that appeared had used to be whole, and turned back to stare at the city.

"No thanks, you guys. Mikey, you can have the rest of it." Excitement sparkled within Mikey's eyes and went to grab the two remaining pieces of the human-food, but Raph swiftly grabbed the two slices before the youngest turtle could devour them and stomped his way towards his big brother.

_Oh boy. Should've just went over and eaten the human-food, because now you're gonna have to, _once again,_ face the wrath of Raph's Temper Tantrums._

_'I know, but even if I did came over to eat it, which I'll probably be doing in the next ten seconds or more, I'll end up coughing that stuff out of my stomach and my stomach will be growling for food. So, whether I do eat or not, my stomach will keep growling and I'll still be able to keep up with my brothers.' _Not putting up any resistance when the rough-hand came on his shoulder, Leo allowed himself to be pulled away from the ledge and to be face-to-face with his anger-issued brother.

"Sorry, bro, but you ain't getting out of not eating, this time." He then turned to Donnie and Mikey, both of them coming up from behind and each grabbing an arm of their blue-banded brother in case he tries to get away from what's going to happen, which wasn't the eldest turtle's plan in the least. "We can't have a great time exploring the city, without you experiencing your very first human-food that isn't Worms and Algae." He then held up one of the slices to Leo's face, smirking when Leo's stomach let out another mighty growl at the sight of food in front of its owner's eyes. "Come on, Leo, you know you want to try it."

"I don't know if Leo actually wants to, but I know that I want to if he doesn't." Mikey warned, his grip on his big brother's arm shaking and loosening the longer he doesn't takes a bite out of the slice. If Leo had eyebrows, he would've most likely raised one of them in annoyance at his three brothers trying to get him to eat human-food, when he wasn't even planning on getting out of the situation.

_Well? Go ahead, and take a bite. It's about time you four do some fun together, an event that involves **all four of you** on wanting to do an activity, instead of playing just for the sake of your brothers._

_**...Hate to admit it, but do what Pup's Conscience told Pup to do. Take **_**_opportunity to truly bond with Omega-Brothers and Beta-Brother, by doing something Pup and Kins can agree on doing together, which is to explore Human City before Pup... Do so, for the sake of Pack._**

It seems that everyone, even his Instincts, are wanting him to do something that he hardly does with his family: Have fun, and to be happy. Though this isn't his way on being truly happy, since he knows this isn't the same as gaining the freedom his heart still craves for, Leo was going to do what his other dream has been for as long as he could remember, which is to truly bond with his brothers and to explore the city before them. So, letting out a deep sigh of surrender and staring up at the slice of the human-food in front of his face, Leo smiled at his brother and, after easily pulling his right-hand out of Mikey's grip, he took the slice and at that very moment, he was going to enjoy every single second he has with his brothers by wondering the city.

Sure, this wasn't the way that the turtle wanted it to be on his first time above the sewers and no, the city isn't as cleansed or an actual perfect place to be living in as the Lair, but New York City, alone, is no doubt going to be one of Leo's most greatest adventure and discovery to ever come across with or encounter in his entire life.

**TBC**

* * *

I know they used their left-hands when they were eating their worms, but I'm going to have Leo be Ambidexterity (both left and right-handed). I also don't know what turtle hands are called, so I'm sticking with 'paws' for the time being. And don't worry, next chapter will have where they meet April O'Neil (just like in the episode) and there very first fight/battle/mission.

I'm not very good with what Splinter would say in his Words of Wisdom.

FYI: I'm not very good at describing fights, so I'm not sure how that's going to turn out but I'll do my best on it for the next chapter.

R&amp;R


	3. The Difficulties we must Face

A full hour swiftly went by and the four brothers went from rooftop to rooftop, having the time of their lives and exploring the many parts of the city as much as they could.

"Yeah-ha!"

"Whoohoo!"

"Yippy! Ha ha!"

While Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo would practically throw themselves over to the next building they come across of and do some flips or somersaults to show off their moves, Leonardo would have himself scale to the highest point of each building they go on and then launch himself to the next rooftop, swiftly going on ahead of the group to have himself mentally remember where they've been and if the places they go to are considered safe to hang out or too noticeable for the humans to be able to see them.

_Uh, aren't you forgetting something?_

Instantly, Leo slammed the breaks on his speed and skidded to a stop near a ledge of the rooftop he was about to launch himself over to the next building across the street.

_'My brothers are right behind me and can easily catch up,' _he thought to himself. _'And even if I were to try and get away from them, which I'm not, they'll somehow be able to track me down and bring me back to the Lair to get me in trouble.'_

_No, that's not it. You're supposed to be playing and having fun with your brothers, not stand on the sideline and scope out the city._

Leo narrowed his eyes to what his conscience told him, while looking over the city and awaiting his brothers to catch up to him.

_'You didn't tell me that I couldn't scope out the city, and besides, you also agreed that studying the many parts of New York would be a great idea in case I were to somehow leave the Pack and watch over my brothers from afar.'_

_That's not the point here! The point is, is that you're supposed to be bonding with your brothers and right now, you aren't bonding with them!_

The blue-banded turtle scoffed at his conscience's words.

_'Uh, I have been bonding with them.'_

_Yeah, like forty-five minutes ago! That's WAY too short to be enough time to build up your bond with your brothers!_

_**Although, must admit, fifteen minutes' basically longest time Pup has been able to bond with Kins, without any interruption or any of Kins ending activity from **_**_boredom. Pup needs time to get used to spending more time with Omega-Brothers and Beta-Brother, than average less than five minutes time Pup ever had with Kins._**

Smiling at his instincts backing him up on his reason to why he ended his bonding-moment with his brothers so early, Leo gazed over the horizon of the taller buildings of New York City, while hearing the sound of feet skidding over the ground behind him and feeling the presence of his younger brothers standing beside him. As the feeling of the wind blew against their skin and making the tail of their masks wave in the air, Leo looked up at the dark-sky and stared at the stars, already catching a Constellation that he had read from a book that he can use to tell the time: The Big Dipper. It took him ten seconds to what position the Big Dipper was in and another seven seconds to also find the Polaris Star, which he was then was able to see that it was nearing to nine o'clock at night.

_'Good thing that I've read about being able to tell the time by the sun, moon or stars.' _He thought to himself, closing his eyes and feeling his headache starting to fade from the gentle touch of the wind cooling off his skin from all that running he just did with his brothers. _'Donnie ain't the only __smart turtle in the family.'_

_Nevertheless, Donnie is still the smartest in the family, with either you or Father being second. And speaking of Father, he's probably getting worried and may want you four to return home at this very moment._

_'Unfortunately, you have to ruin the mood and have me get my brothers to complain once I tell them the news.' _Leo thought to himself, letting out a tiring sigh. _'Man, how many times have I been sighing for? I really need to stop doing that.' _"All right, guys, it's getting late. We should probably head back home." Just as he predicted, his three brothers groaned and moaned on what their eldest-brother just told them, even though they knew he was right.

"Lame..." Mikey stated, as he turned away from the ledge and to follow his older-brothers. Just as Donnie was about to turn away, his eyes caught something that made him stop in his steps.

"Guys! Look at that!" He told his brothers, pointing to what just happened to gain his complete attention that was so important for the rest to see what it was: There, on the other side of the street, are two humans calmly walking on the sidewalk, most likely heading home after doing an activity together.

One of the two humans, was an average-looking middle aged man with red-hair and goatee. He also has blue-eyes, wears a brown-jacket with a grey undershirt, tan-pants and brown-shoes. Although, Leo had a feeling that it wasn't that human Donnie was pointing at. No, it was the second human walking beside him: A teenaged girl.

Like the man beside her, she has red-hair, which is in a ponytail, with a yellow headband on top of her head, and blue-eyes, which most likely means that the man beside her is her father. She is lean, with her height to be at least an inch or two shorter than Leo's own height. She has and wears brown-wristbands, a yellow and white shirt with a number five on it, a black t-shirt under the yellow-shirt from the black-sleeves showing, a black choker, jean-shorts with leggings under them, blue-and-yellow socks and black boots.

**_A human girl? That's what Omega-Brother Donatello wants Pup and Kins to see, is human girl? What is it about her that Omega-Brother wanted all Kins to see for selves?_**

"She's the most beautiful girl I've ever seen." Leo jerked his head back and turned to his second younger-brother, seeing a corner of his mouth having a drool hanging out of the corner-right of it and, from his strong hearing, he could hear Don's heart beating in an odd sort of pace.

_Sounds like somebody has been bitten by the Love bug._

"Isn't she the only girl you've ever seen?" Raph asked, giving him an odd look that tells the genius turtle that whatever he's thinking is never going to happen the way he wants it.

"My point still stands." Donnie backed up, standing up tall and sounding as if he isn't going to take back what he said about that human girl. Leo, also feeling the same on what Raph's most likely thinking, also gave him a disprovable glare at his younger-brother and shook his head.

_'That's just great: Our first time up on the surface and Donnie's fallen head over heels for some girl he just seen tonight, who he doesn't even know what her name is... Sensei's **really** going to love this, once we tell him the news that one of his four sons has a crush for a human.' _Before he could even tell Donatello that he should forget about the girl and face the fact he won't get a chance with her, since they aren't human and would most likely freak her on seeing a humanoid-turtle jump out of nowhere, his strong hearing suddenly caught the sound of tires screeching and a car coming towards the road below them.

Glancing down, he saw a white-van coming to a stop in front of the two humans Donnie wanted them to see, who both look confused when the van just happened to stop them from crossing the road. On the right-side of the van, a human came out. He was slim, had black hair, wore a white tank top and blue-jeans. When the slim human came out, the doors at the back of the van sprang opened and four identical men in neat black suits and blank facial expressions hopped out of the car. Leo's eyes widen in shock when he saw those four men that just came out of the car and slowly making their way towards the father and daughter, with the father standing over his child to protect her if the strangers were to harm her and the daughter clinging onto her father's left-arm in fear the four men would separate them.

Rage build up inside of Leo's chest, his eyes narrowing with gaze of hatred held within his iris and his teeth clenching on having to hold in the snarl he so wanted to let out.

_'It's **them**...' _He snarled out in his thoughts, slowly reaching for his twin Katanas, Musashi and Kamiizumi, in order to prepare himself to fight.

_Wait! Father's instructions were very clear. You four are to stay away from people... And bathrooms. This is not your problem and mustn't get involved into it. Leave now and let the humans take care of it!_

His hands ceased themselves from reaching for his blades, surprised and a little startled on what he just heard. If his conscience were another person and had a body, Leo would've most likely be glaring at it.

_'In case you don't know or have forgotten, those **humans** down there are the cause of us being humanoid-turtles, with me being a humanoid-wolf/turtle, fifteen years ago! We can't leave those two humans to have their lives ruined, all because Master Splinter doesn't want us to be seen by humans!'_

_**Besides, running away isn't an option! Kins need help and, from looks of it, doesn't seem that any other humans are around to help!**_

"I'm gonna go down there and save them!" Donatello's voice broke through Leonardo's conversation with his instinct and conscience and, without any hesitation, launched himself off the rooftop and towards the shadows that was closest to one of the four men that stood guard over the back doors of the van. Immediately after the third eldest took in charge on going down to the street without coming up with a plan, Raphael and Michelangelo also leapt in the air and followed suit on attacking the four men from the shadows. Remaining in his spot on the roof, Leo observed the scene before him, while continuing on his little conversation with his conscience.

_'Well, do you still think we should head back to the Lair, **now**? They're already down there, fighting, and doesn't seem they'll listen to me on heading back to the Lair.'_

_...__Ugh... This is going to end badly and no doubt you four will be punished by Splinter after the battle ends, with a possibility that you four will be forbidden on coming back up to the surface for another year or so._

_**Discuss about punishment Alpha will be giving out, later. Right now, time to get down there and fight!**_

Smirking at his instincts ending their conversation and finally grabbing for Musashi and Kamiizumi, Leo launched himself in the air and towards one of the four men trying to grab for the girl. Before his hand could grab for her left-arm, Leo held out his right-foot towards the man's face and kicked him away from the teenaged girl. The blank-faced human was knocked against the wall of a building and fell to the ground, but has quickly collected himself off the sidewalk and stared at the eldest-turtle as if he were something old and unimpressed of. The turtle glared at the human before him, standing protectively over the human girl as if she were a member of his pack, while holding Musashi in the air next to his head on his right and Kamiizumi out and across his plastron.

"Don't even think about it," he growled out. Instead of talking back, the human simply cracked his knuckles and held them up against his chest, crouching himself down a bit to ready himself to charge.

_**Human has guts; not afraid of Pup's appearance, not getting a scratch or being stunned from kick in face and ready to take Pup down. This outta be interesting.**_

_'Indeed. Let's see if he can still pick himself off the ground, once I break one or both of his legs.'_

_Wait a minute! You can't go seriously injuring him; he's a human! Father taught you four to fight in order to defend, not to purposely harm others or to kill your opponents, whether it be for reason or vengeance! Remember, you swore to Father that you would always follow _Bushidō.__

Leo tightened his grip onto his swords, knowing that his conscience was right about that, even if he hates to deny it.

_'Fine, I won't break his legs. I'll just rough him and his gang up a bit until they get the message and leave.' _He then turned his gaze towards the girl below him, who was staring up at him with fear and confusion on what was going on. "Grab your father and get out of here." He told the girl in a calm but demanding voice, then turned to stare at the human in front of him. "I have a little score to settle with you and your three friends fighting against my brothers, for what you four did to us, fifteen years ago." Just as he said those words and also couching a bit low to the ground to ready himself, Leo pushed his legs to put on burst of speed and charged towards his opponent.

The moment they collided with each other, the human delivered a punch in the chest to the turtle and sent him falling on his back and onto the street, stunning him a bit from feeling both the impact and force he just felt from the human.

_'Okay, ow!' _He thought to himself, shaking his head to get rid of whatever dizziness he was feeling in his head and quickly got up to his feet, only to then jump back in order to avoid being shoved against by Raph and his fight. Focusing his mind back to his own opponent, he heard the sound of rushing wind coming up from above him, which he immediately saw to be his opponent coming down with a powerful kick. Instinctively, Leo sheathed his swords away and forced himself to do a quick backflip, which he was able to avoid the kick and using his hands to spring him back, give his opponent a kick in the chest when the human stood up to his full height from the impact of his landing. As the human stumbled back, Leo then started to swiftly struck the human's limbs and chest, going for the pressure points to prevent his opponent from using his arms and to cripple him in temporarily pain.

However, as the eldest turtle jammed his fingers towards the pressure points he was taught to locate and use as in advantage to temporarily paralyze his opponent, he felt something off with the human and noticed he wasn't withering in pain as he should be at this moment. Immediately, he leapt away from his opponent, who almost slammed a powerful punch to the side of his head if he hadn't dodged, and kneeled to the ground to catch his breath a bit.

_'What's going on? I hit the right areas to where his upper pressure points should be and applying the right amount of pressure to cause the damage, but he isn't showing the slightest sign on being in pain!'_

_Something else isn't right about this human. Not just him, but the rest of his colleague don't seem to act right at all._

_'"Act right"? What do you mean by that?'_

_It's from the way they're moving or not making a sound: Like, when that one human fighting Raph got punched in the stomach and took a few steps away from the van, after tossing that girl's father into the van, he didn't gasp out a single breath like he should have if he's gotten the wind punched out of him or holding his stomach from the possible bruise that's going to form on him._

Leo's eyes widen from what his conscience just informed him about, as he slowly got to his feet and started clenching his hands to get rid of any damage to his sense of touch from the continuous jabbing to the body.

_'Is that so?' _He asked in his mind, as he unsheathed his swords and crossed the both of them in front of him to warn his opponent that he now means business.

_**Something else isn't right about humans; Omega-Brother Donatello whacked and jabbed Naginata Bō staff at opponent's chest, yet human didn't show any sign of feeling pain or hurting at all from impact... Almost like human's body are tougher than normal-human body should be.**_

_'...In that case...' _Motioning for his opponent to come at him, which the human did and ran charging towards the turtle, Leo launched himself in the air and brought down both his swords towards the human, who ceased his running and stared up at the blue-banded turtle.

_What are you doing?! You're going to cut straight through him!_

_'I know that! I need to do a little test on him!' _When he almost made it back to solid ground, the human held up his right-arm in the air, expecting it to block the two swords from coming down on top of him and to prevent them from cutting him... Which, after the Katanas had made contact with the arm shielding the human, it had not only blocked out the attack, but has also been able to withstand the turtle's weight and flung him aside, causing the turtle to land roughly onto the street on his left-side and to slowly get on his knees.

_...What just happened?_

_'Something that I was expecting to happen from my hunch,' _he thought to himself. _'There's no way that his arm, on its own, should be able to absorb the impact of my landing, not get a single scratch from my Katanas and to still be connected to the body.' _Unfortunately, not only was the human able to stop his attack without injury, but was able to leave the turtle a little breathless, considering he used all of his strength from launching himself as high as he could in the air and was still exhausted on having to do the pressure points on him. Just as he thought his opponent was going to finish him off, the human turned his attention to where Donnie was trying to reassure the girl that they were here to help her and her father and slowly reached in with another of the human to grab her.

Too bad for Donatello wasn't getting any luck on befriending her, because when he and the girl were about to make a sort of connection, Mikey came up from behind while backing away from his opponent and accidentally whacked Donnie in the head with his Nunchaku. After getting whacked in the head, the genius turtle was then kicked in the plastron by one of the humans, which sent him and Mikey flying backwards and hitting against a couple of trash cans next to a staircase of a house. As Leo got to his feet, he heard the sound of the van being turned back on and turned to see the girl has tape covering her mouth before the back door of the van closed and the car began to drive away.

"They're getting away! They got the girl!" Donnie exclaimed, flipping over to grab his Naginata Bō staff that was left on the street when he kicked away and trying to get himself to run as fast as the van was going.

_**Don't let van get away! Go after it!**_

After sheathing his swords back into their sheaths on his back and knowing that his brothers will be alright on their own while catching up, Leo made haste and followed the speeding van. Already passing by Donatello in just a few seconds and turning a sharp corner to the right, the blue-banded turtle was able to track down which direction the van was going by memorizing the scent the human girl carried and in just about half a second, he caught sight of the van. Unfortunately, there were other cars passing by and the turtle knew he mustn't let other humans see him or he could cause a few damage to the area and injuries to the innocent people. Immediately, he climbed up on a street light pole and launched himself across the street to a rooftop.

_'I won't be able to catch up to them on the street, but I might be able to catch up to them if I follow them above the building.' _He thought to himself, following the scent of the human girl and her father, while leaping over buildings and using light poles as planks to help get him to the next building across the street.

_**Must hurry, Pup; Body's still tired from fight with opponent and running out of energy by overusing it during time exploring city!**_

_'I know that, but I can't go any faster than I'm already running at this paste and I still don't know much of the city and its places!'_

_**Yes, Pup can. Pup can go faster than speed Pup's already going. Omega-Brothers and Beta-Brother very much behind and Alpha not here to stop Pup from doing what Pup loves to do, which has always been blessing by making Pup go twice as fast than Pup can run in.**_

Deep-blue eyes widen when he realized what his instincts are telling him to do, which then made his heart thundered a bit faster from the thought of what he had loved to do but always has to force himself to stop when Master Splinter scolds him for not walking on just his feet like he was told to do.

_**Pup, know it's the only way to catch up to humans and from how low Pup's energy getting, will only have one shot to sprang up on foes from above.**_

Stopping himself on a rooftop to catch his breath a bit and watching the van veering to the left, Leo let out a deep breath and flexed his hands to warm them up.

_'Alright, let's do this.'_

Still hearing the sound of the van screeching and still being able to pick up the scent of the two humans, the blue-banded turtle pushed his body to run again and after taking five swift steps, he launched his body towards the next roof and made a perfect landing on all-four, which he then pushed his body to sprint-run on all-four. In just about ten seconds on running and leaping on all-four over the houses, buildings and streets, Leo found the van below him and was going a bit faster than the car he was chasing. His arms started to ache and his feet felt as if they were going to lose whatever strength he had left in them, but the turtle wasn't going to have his body fail on him, not when he has prey to take down and two innocent victims that needed his help. With his teeth bared from the thought of hunting those four men down and getting himself in the perfect position of the car by being a few inches ahead of it, he launched himself in the air and, by grabbing his short-sword, Kamiizumi, he positioned his body over the street and jabbed his blade on top of the van he landed on.

_Perfect landing! Quickly, force open a hole and grab those two humans out of the vehicle!_

However, just as he pulled Kamiizumi out of the van he forced his blade to dig into and was going to jab into the same spot to help him make a bigger cut into the car, he heard a sound that he recognized from one of his shows of **Space** **Heroes** show to his left.

**_Move, now!_**

Before he could take a step back, a blast was heard and suddenly felt a burning force of sensation at his left-shoulder. He let out a grunt from the harsh-burning spreading into his shoulder, already feeling warm-liquid blood surfacing from the wound and pooling underneath his arm. Turning to his left, he saw one of the four men aiming at looks to be some sort of blaster in a form of a gun at him and seeing the light building up at the opening of the weapon, the turtle forced himself to roll backwards and to grab for the top of the car when his body fell off of it, before any more of the blaster's attack could touch him. Because the van was now at his left, Leo was forced to use his left-hand to keep his grip on it until he puts Kamiizumi back into its sheath with his right, making the pain in his shoulder even more painful than it already was and for the wound to pour out even more blood from the stretching of his injury. Quickly switching hands before his left-hand slips its grip from being coated in his blood, the turtle kept a tight grip on the roof and tried to pull himself back to the top of the car.

_No, don't pull yourself up! Let go of the vehicle, now!_

_'What? I can't do that! That small family needs my help and I can't abandon them!' _He argued with his conscience, trying to urge his right-hand to pull his entire weight up and back on the van.

_If you want to live long enough to help them, let go of the vehicle before you get blasted from that slim human to your right!_

Hearing the sound of the blaster charging its attack from his right caught the turtle's attention, which he then turned and saw it was the slim human that came out of the van with those four lookalikes, aiming a blaster to what he assumes to be either his right-hand or his head.

**_Let go for now, Pup; still know and have girl and father's scent, along with Pup's blood coating vehicle. Will allow Pup to track down vehicle next time Pup and Kins come up to surface and look for the humans. For now, and unfortunately, Pup have to let foes go._**

Clenching his hand on the edge of the van and peaking a quick glance at the logo of the car, in case he were to not be able to find their scent if the van gets washed from the scent it carries, Leo immediately let go of the car before the blaster released its attack and did a somersault or two on the street to decrease his chances on getting any more wounded than he already was. He soon found himself kneeling on the street and gasping for air, as he watch the van veer to the right and disappearing from his sight. Once it was gone and no longer heard the sound of screeching tires echoing through the air, the turtle slowly pushed his body to stand up, which he did staggered a bit from the overuse of his legs but still has enough energy to stand and be able to walk, as long as he doesn't push his body to run until he gets his energy back.

_'Ung... Good thing it's already late and that there aren't any more humans coming out here, otherwise they would be freaking out on seeing an injured humanoid-turtle standing in the middle of the road.' _He thought to himself, as he brought up his right-hand to his wounded-shoulder, wincing from having to put on pressure to it but knowing he needs to stop the bleeding. _'Damn it! Whatever those weapons of theirs are, it sure can leave a good wound to the body. I sure hope that the injury won't prevent me from using my arm in battle while it heals.'_

_You should considered yourself lucky that the weapon didn't break your humerus bone, or worse, blow your arm right off of your shoulder!_

_'Yeah, I should be grateful that I still have two arms.' _Leo thought to himself, as he stared at the last spot he seen the van turn at and then slowly made his way to an alley to follow the scent of his brothers that was a few blocks away from his location, where he can also hear Mikey's screaming some nonsense about a human he was fighting has a brain in his chest.

_Father isn't going to like what he's going to hear, once you and your brothers tell him about the news._

* * *

**Back to the Lair...**  
"And so, your inability to work together not only allowed them all to get away, but has also gotten one of you seriously injured!" Splinter yelled at his sons, who was clearly mad and disappointed on hearing what his four sons just did while exploring the city. While keeping his head down and closing his eyes to see nothing but the darkness that had always helped calmed him down, Leo held in a groan of annoyance at his father's lecture, as if it were the same news that he's been told over and over again.

_**If Alpha should be mad at Pup or Kins, it be Omega-Brother Donatello; Omega-Brother went in, without thinking up plan or heeding Alpha's warning, and **_**_purposely blew cover because of some human girl Omega-Brother fell head over heels for. As for wound Pup gotten, it really isn't serious; just simple flesh wound Omega-Brother Donatello easily taken cared of by wrapping injury, though Pup could've taken care of the wound by self._**

_Even if the fault is all on Donnie, you and the rest of your brothers are also at fault for going into battle, when they should've left the humans alone but ended up making the situation much worse._

_'And, once again, I have to take blame of my brothers and listen to another one of Sensei's lecture, again... What number does this add up to the _list of_ "Taking the Blame and Responsibility for my Brothers" this time? I lost track at three hundred forty-seven.'_

_Three hundred sixty-two._

_'Another three more of that, and then I'll have the numbers of sticking out for my brothers to the equivalent of a full-year in my fifteen years of being in this Clan as a humanoid-wolf/turtle.'_

"Well, maybe if I didn't have two screw ups always getting in my way, I could've saved them! Besides, it was Donnie that went flying off on his own! How smart was that, Dork-a-tello?!" Raphael stated, glaring over his big brother and at his younger-brother, who glared back at the red-banded turtle.

"Well, it would've worked out great, if somebody hadn't hit me in the head with their Nunchucks!" Donnie exclaimed, turning his gaze and passing the blame over to their youngest brother.

"Well, none of this would've happened if..." Mikey turned to his left, realizing while in his panicking-state that nobody was kneeling over there, and without thinking, passed the blame over to the person in front of him. "Somebody hadn't trusted us to go up there in the first place!" Immediately, all the brothers, even Leo, lifted their heads up and stared in shock and worry towards their father.

_'Did... Did Mikey just passed the blame towards Sensei?' _Leo asked himself, not sure if he should be angry at his youngest brother for what he said... Or, actually take on his side and agree to him about their sensei trusting them to go up in the surface, even if the four of them were at fault on making him decide too quickly, all because they wanted to go up so badly and not be trapped underneath the city any longer.

_Oh boy... Mikey's going to be in for it this time, isn't he?_

_**Omega-Brother Michelangelo doesn't think before acts, especially when **_**_under pressure or when all negative attention are on self._**

"Oh, geez." From the tone of his voice, it sounded like Mikey didn't really mean what he just said about his father, though it was already too late to take back what he just said. "Sensei, I didn't mean to..."

"No, Michelangelo. You are right." Splinter told his son, his face showing no signs of hurt to what his youngest child just said about him and looks like he really does agree to what he just said.

"I am?" Mikey asked, not sure if he should be happy or upset and worried that he was right about something.

"He is?" Raph and Donnie asked in unison, while Leo simply stared at his brother with confusion held within his eyes.

_'How could Mikey be right about it being Sensei's fault? We were the ones to push Master Splinter into letting us go, and all because of our sad-faces we put up in order for him to make the decision.'_

_That may as well be true, but I don't think it was the decision on letting you go up to explore the city he meant is his fault; it's most likely about your fight with the four men he meant is his fault._

_'Our fight? What was wrong with our fighting?'_

_If you're to recall on how those humans fought, at least one of them would go after one of your brothers, after he was able to bring down one of your siblings for at least a few seconds... Those four men fought as a team. You and your brothers, while you all have many strengths in battle, you all were taught to fight on your own and against one another. In other terms, Father never taught you four to fight together, as a team._

"You were not fully prepared for what was up there. I trained you to fight as individuals, not as a team." Splinter explained to his sons, which made the three younger brothers felt ashamed of themselves for not realizing it and the eldest turtle surprised that his conscience already figured out what his sensei meant.

_See? He's blaming himself for not being able to train you four to fight as a team._

"And as your teacher, your father, the responsibility for that is mine... Perhaps in another year we can try again." The four brothers widen their eyes from their father's suggestion.

"Another year?!" Donnie exclaimed, clearly not liking what Splinter just said to them.

_'This, I totally agree with Donnie on. Another year?!' _Leo yelled in his mind, glaring at the back of Splinter's head but immediately lowering his head and glared at the floor. _'He can't be serious! We just told him, like a minute ago, that we screwed up in a fight and allowed two humans, a father and daughter, to get kidnapped by four men, who happened to be the cause of what we became fifteen years ago, and all he suggest us to do is forget about those innocent humans for a year?!'_

_He has his reasons for making a decision._

_'Yeah? Well, this time, his decision isn't helping anybody! It's not helping those two humans, who most likely don't have a year to wait for us to save them. It's not helping my brothers, who all were truly happy for the first time since they wanted to go up to the surface. And lastly, it's not helping him, for he will be the cause of letting the two innocent people suffer in the hands of those identical humans, and he knows that!'_

"Ha! Has everybody forgotten that people were kidnapped?" Donnie asked his brothers, who all clearly agreed to what he's saying and going through with it, even though the mess was sort of his fault for rushing into the battle without thinking up a plan. "They don't have a year! Sensei, we have to do something now!" Splinter glared down at his third child, seeing within his brownish-red eyes that his son had a crush on the human girl he had failed to rescued. "You weren't there, sensei. You didn't see the way that girl looked into my eyes. She was scared. And she was counting on me..." The three brothers gave him glares of annoyance and confusion to what just said on that last part.

_'You? Counting on **just** you, little brother? Geez, and I thought Raph would be the only one sounding as if he was trying to be the hero and save the day.' _Leo thought to himself, not liking to hear that the genius turtle is still allowing his emotions to get in a way, all because he had a simple crush on the girl for the first time he laid eyes on her.

_**Omega-Brother Donatello will surely get Pup and Kins killed and likely leave Pup and Kins behind if human girl is all Omega Brother's going to be thinking about.**_

"Uh, us... To save her!" Donnie quickly corrected on what just let slip out without thinking, staring up at his Sensei to have him reconsider his suggestion on keeping them in the sewers for another year and preventing them from helping that family out.

Splinter lifted his gaze far out into space, then turned to the small shrine he built when he made the sewers his home after being mutated into a humanoid-rat and gazed at the small black-and-white picture that he has always kept with him ever since he left Japan... The _**only**_ picture he has of himself as a human, his beloved wife, Tang Shen, and their beautiful baby girl, Miwa. Splinter knew that if Shen were alive to this very day and were to be in the conversation with them, no doubt she would've wanted Yoshi to let _their _sons go back to the surface and save that small family from those four men who turned them into humanoid-animals... And, that if Donnie truly has a crush for the girl, then they mustn't get in his way on winning her heart, even if he may never actually get a chance with her but may learn the difference between a crush and to truly be in love.

"Yes, you must save her." He told the turtles, his eyes now holding understanding that this was one of those moments of them gaining their wisdom from the mistake they just made. Leo, who was a little surprised, was happy to hear that their father is going to listen to reason and allow them to fix the mistake that they, mostly Donnie, made happen.

_'It's almost like to this very day, Tang Shen's still here for Sensei and is helping him make the right choice and decision for us and how to fix our choice of action.'_

_**Even in death, Alpha's mate still there for Alpha and forever be in heart to guide Alpha through the troubles Alpha still faces.**_

_Now that Father is telling you four to save the human girl and her father, now we have another problem to discuss about: The Teamwork situation._

"We agree, Sensei, that we must save the human girl and her father, but we still have a problem." Leo told their father, still keeping his gaze to the ground and avoiding eye-contact with the humanoid-rat. "In that fight, we weren't exactly a well-oiled machine."

"Yeah, like that robot with the brain thingy." Mikey brought up once again, still claiming that he actually seen a human brain pop out of one of the four men's chest.

"Give a rest!" Raph told their youngest brother, tired on having to hear the orange-banded turtle's made up fairytale that he still say that it was true, when Raph and Donnie were trying to catch up to Leo on stopping that van.

However, while Raph and Donnie believe that Mikey was making something up and probably just saw something or imagined it happened, Leo could hear no lie coming out of his youngest brother's voice and, hearing his heart not beating in a frantic rhythm like it would do when trying to come up with a great lie, the blue-banded turtle chose to not doubt his brother's words and stay quiet for the time being.

_If what Mikey just said was true, then perhaps that would explain part of the reason why those humans didn't respond or acted like humans would originally do._

_'But the question is, were they actually humans to begin with or are they something much more than humans?' _Leo wondered in his thoughts, having a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach that they're going to find some answers he's been wanting to find for a long time.

"If you are to fight more effectively as a unit, you are going to need a leader." Splinter told his sons, with three of his children having hopeful eyes on getting the chance to actually be a leader, while only one kept his gaze down and looks to be unimpressed on the thought of being leader.

_'Oh boy, here comes the brawl on who wants to lead and why they should be leader.' _Leo thought to himself, staying quiet and showing no signs of wanting to be in the conversation in the least.

"I should be the leader. I can kick all of your butts, no sweat or difficulty." Raph declared, keeping his head held high and having a cocky smile on his face for coming up with the best excuse to be leader.

"Hey, I'm smarter than all you guys put together. It should be me." Donnie butted in, giving his older-brother a challenging glare on coming up with another reason why the red-banded turtle should be the leader.

"No way! It should be _me!_" Mikey cried out, which made his two older-brothers stare at him in confusion on what his combat would be to why he should lead them. "I don't really have a reason. I just think it would be neat." Leo let out a quiet sigh.

_'Of course, Mikey, you would think it would be "neat" to be leader. Just wait until you realize how much you need to really focus if you were to become the leader.' _Then, not trying to grab anybody's or be in the center of attention, he got to his feet and calmly made his way out of the Dojo... Or, at least he tried to leave the Dojo.

"Hey, Leo, where do ya think you're going?" Raphael called out, stopping his big brother in his tracks on leaving.

"I think I'm heading for my room to prepare myself to head out soon, while you three and Master Splinter decides who should be leader." Leonardo answered calmly, turning his gaze to stare into the confuse and irritated look of his younger-brother. "Why? Is there a problem about me being prepared? On second thought, it shouldn't really be a problem to you, considering you're not given the mantle of Leadership."

"Not _yet_, I haven't been announced as leader." Raph backed up, still having that cocky smirk on his face and not seeing the confused look Splinter has on his face. He then took a few steps forward towards his eldest child, who had turned his gaze towards the shōji to leave the Dojo.

"Leonardo, do you wish to become leader?" The rat asked, which his question made the three other turtles wonder why their big brother hadn't said anything about wanting to be the leader of the team or why he should be leader. Leo narrowed his eyes at the shōji, not wanting to explain to his family of his reason why he didn't want to stick around to hear who was going to be leader, when he knew that it'll most likely be Raph.

_'Why bother asking me that sort of question, when I obviously don't want to explain myself by leaving the conversation and heading for my room?' _Leo asked himself in his thoughts, though he already knew that he has to answer his sensei's question when the question wasn't involved about his estrange behavior or him being more antisocial around the Hamato Clan. "Honestly, Sensei... No, I don't want to become leader." He answered, making his three brothers stunned by his words and Splinter surprised that his eldest didn't want what his three younger sons did.

"Dude, you don't want to be leader?" Michelangelo asked his brother, after using both his index-fingers to clear out his ears in case he had something in them that made him heard his big brother wrong. "How can you not want to become leader, bro? Being leader is, like, one of the most awesomeness thing to ever happen in your entire life!" Leo winced a bit from the volume his brother chose to speak in, making his right-ear have a little ringing going on in his hearing that'll probably last about a few minutes or so.

_'To Mikey, everything he sees on TV or finds in the sewers, is "the most awesomeness thing" to ever happen in life.'_

_**No matter what Kins ages are, to every pup, whatever find or hear from others will always capture interest until either get tired of it or no longer see it to reach interest.**_

"Well, that's your perspective on how you see Leadership to be, Mikey." Leo told his brother, glancing at the orange-band turtle with a certain tiredness his eyes held. "I, on the other hand, see no joy or anything positive of what being leader would bring to me and will have no interest on ever wanting to be the leader." He then turned back to face the shōji. "Now, if you don't mind on letting me go, I need to get something that will help us out on our mission." Without waiting for an answer from anybody of his family, he made his way towards the shōji and left the Dojo.

_You do realize that you'll most likely be punished for leaving the Dojo, without Father's permission or say that you can leave._

_'I know, and right now, I don't care if Sensei grounds me from going up to the surface for a whole moon after we save that family. As long as he heard on what I want him and the others to hear, then it doesn't really matter.'_

_**Not only that, Alpha only asked Pup question and Pup have answer, meaning Pup not gone against Alpha's wishes or demands, since Alpha hasn't given Pup order to stay put within Training Room.**_

Rather than going to his own bedroom, however, Leo made his way to the bathroom. After locking the door behind him in case his brothers were to try and barge in, like they always do, he sat himself against the bathtub and in front of the toilet, waiting for his stomach to reject the two human-food slices he ate over an hour ago and for him to cough up whatever was left of the food in his stomach. Which, after sensing that its master is no longer holding in the food it was forced to hold on to for a full hour during their time above the surface, his stomach immediately brought up the food it had more than halfway digested it and made the turtle vomit the food into the toilet.

Over the past fifteen years as a humanoid-wolf/turtle, Leo found out that he can't eat as much his father and brothers can, and that he mustn't force himself to try and increase his appetite: If he were to be pressured too hard on eating any more than he can already handle or is forced to eat when he doesn't feel like eating, the distress can easily upset his stomach and then it'll try to get rid of the discomfort by forcing the turtle to vomit the food out of his body. And though he ate the two human-food slices by his choice, though a little more by his conscience wanting him to keep their bond strong and firm, he was both forced and pressured into eating the two slices by his brothers, which had also resorted of him to force his stomach to hold in the human-food until he allows his stomach to bring it up or when it finishes digesting it and have him go through some serious abdominal pain for a good hour or two.

After heaving up the food a couple of times to empty his stomach, Leo reached for a toilet-paper at his left to wipe away any bile that still lingers on his face and then flushed the toilet to rid away whatever his stomach brought up.

_'Thank god that Donnie soundproofed the bathroom door and walls, or the guys and Sensei would be all over my shell if they think I've gotten sick again.' _He thought to himself, as he quickly washed his hands and face to rid away the smell of his condition in case it still clung to the skin, then went into brushing his teeth for a good three minutes and swiftly left the bathroom to make his way to his bedroom. _'Alright, back to what I need to get for the mission.' _He made his way towards a dresser at the far right of his room, where he would keep some valuable stuff that helps him kill the time away when he was either bored or don't feel like coming out of his room unless he needs to. At the bottom-third shelf of the dresser that he pulled open, were a few weaponry given to him from Master Splinter that Leo decides to store in his room, in case Mikey were to break into the Dojo and mess around with all of their weapons displayed within the room: Rope, a Yumi (bow) and a few arrows within a quiver, a miniature telescope that he found in the sewers a few years ago and a couple of shuriken.

Immediately catching sight of the shuriken, Leo snatched up three of them and placed them underneath his wrist wraps. He then grabbed for his miniature telescope and, after shifting his shoulders a bit to make an open gap between one of his shoulders and his shell, placed the mini-scope inside of his shell. It took him a while to get it right, but Leonardo has been able to figure out on how to store items inside his shell and to bring it out with ease, without causing any discomfort to either him or to his shell and when he's not hiding inside of his shell, despite turtles having their spines being connected to their shells.

_You know that Donnie will flip if he finds out that you've been storing items inside your shell, and then we'll go off on the many reasons why you mustn't be doing that._

_'Yeah, I know, but it's not like I'm going to be storing anything heavy, big or dangerous that'll cause harm to me.'_ Leo thought to himself, as he closed the dresser drawer back into its spot and getting to his feet as if he didn't grab anything out of his dresser and is going to come out empty-handed._ 'Besides, since we're humanoid-turtles, only the bottom-half of our back and body is still connected to the shell, just as our plastrons are still connected to our chests and stomachs. So, even if the top-half of the shell still acting like it's connected to the top-half of our bodies whenever we bend over or back, we can easily pull away from it so that we can make a small-gap form between our shell and shoulders, without causing any discomfort or pain to ourselves or out shells. Anyway, since my miniature telescope isn't pulled out in its full length, then it won't bother me when I'm running or doing flips if my brothers and I are ever caught in another fight.'_

He then went over to the small-dresser to his bed, where he pulled open a drawer that held plain sheets of paper and pencils that he secretly stolen from Donatello's Lab and after grabbing for one of each item held within the drawer, the blue-banded turtle quickly drew out the logo that he seen on the van that took the family away before he was forced to let it go. Thanks to his sharp mind on keeping track of events that had occurred, whether it be from distress or signs of danger, which he believes that the substance from the canister somehow enhanced his memories when it merged with the wolf fur, it took him no more than six minutes to draw out exactly how the logo appeared as. After getting a full look at the drawing he just did of the logo, did the turtle noticed something familiar about it.

_'I know that I'd seen this logo somewhere before the van, but where?' _Before he could try to find an answer to his problem by going through his memories, his door was swung open and Michelangelo quickly stepped into the room, startling the eldest turtle from the interruption caused by his baby brother.

"Leo, you need to come back to the Dojo!" The youngest brother hollered out, running towards his brother and slam a hand on the turtle's right-shoulder, forcing a startled yelp out of the eldest turtle and leap off of the bed and to, without warning, pin Mikey to the floor and glare him down. It took Leo a few seconds to see who was the culprit that had dared startle him from his trains of thought and quickly backed away from his stunned brother.

"Mikey?! How many times do I need to remind you to knock before coming into my room?" The eldest brother questioned, still keeping a glare at the youngest but reaching out to help his brother back to his feet. "Also, you know how much I don't like to be spooked or be jumped on without warning."

"But, Leo, this is urgent! Master Splinter told me to come and get you back to the Dojo; he made his decision on who's going to be leader of the team!" The news surprised the elder turtle, but quickly vanished when he felt like the information Mikey just gave to him shouldn't be that important if he left the Dojo.

"Mikey, I appreciate you coming here to tell me this, but I have no interest on having Master Splinter telling me who will be leader of our team when it should be pretty obvious that Raph will be leading the team." He told his brother, as he bent down to grab for the pencil and paper he temporarily discarded when he went to pin his brother to the floor and placed both items on top of his journal and sketchbook at the small-dresser next to his bed. "You can tell Sensei that I'll let Raph tell me about his new position as leader, and that I'll have no trouble or give any problems to Raph while he leads us." He then went to lay down on his bed and catch a few minutes of rest for his eyes, but Mikey grabbed for his injured-arm and made him winced a bit from the pressure closing in around his injury through the bandages Donnie had wrapped around the wound with.

"Sorry, bro, but Master Splinter told me to get you into the Dojo with us, no matter what the reason on why you won't come back to the Dojo and no excuses." Leonardo knew that whatever their sensei tells them to do and what not to do, they all have to treat his words as if they were the law, itself, on how they have to live in life. And right now, from the way Michelangelo just informed him on what Splinter wants the eldest turtle to do, he knew that he must respects the humanoid-rat's words and do as he say, even if the turtle is very reluctant to do so.

_'Gotta do what Alpha tells me to do, even if it's something that I wish not to follow or respect.'_ He reminded himself, knowing that both his instincts and conscience will constantly remind him of his position in the Hamato Clan and he does as he's told by his sensei, and learns to accept the fact he's doing as he's told by Splinter for the sake of the family until he gets his chance on leaving for his freedom. He then brought his right-hand towards Mikey's hand that still held on to his injured left-arm and gently, but a little firmly, pulled it off of him. "Alright, Mikey, let's head back to the Dojo." He then stood to his feet, made his way out of his bedroom, alongside with his youngest brother, and the two silently made their way towards the shōji and reentered the Dojo. Now rejoined with their other two brothers and sensei, the two went back to their spots they both took in when they first came in and bowed in respect to the rat, with Mikey staring up at their father like Donatello and Raphael, while Leo keeping his gaze down to the floor.

"Thank you for rejoining us, Leonardo." Splinter greeted his eldest, though his eyes looked a little hurt that the blue-banded turtle still refuses to meet his gaze. "I know it may seem like I could've made a rash choice and decision on who to pick as leader in just mere minutes, but I assure you that my meditation had helped me make the right choice on who shall be leading the team." He then took in a deep breath, letting out a deep sigh as if it were the guilt he's been keeping in within his heart. "And so, after being in a deep meditation and thinking through of the matter at hand, I came up with an answer." Raph, Don and Mikey leaned in a bit closer, as if thinking Splinter would go quiet if he told them his answer, while Leo simply stayed quiet and awaited for the answer he believes it shall be.

_'I hope you know what you're getting yourself into, Raph.' _He thought to himself, putting up a small sad-smile on his face that tells of his worry and feeling sorry for the red-banded turtle once he goes through the stress and hardship he will face as the leader of the team._  
_

"The one who shall be leader of the team..." Leo then slowly closed his eyes.

_'Here comes the answer...'_

"...Will be Leonardo."

**TBC**

* * *

Just as I told you guys from the last chapter, I'm not very good with describing fights. Also, I'm having trouble translating some of the words to Japanese and I don't think Google Translate is translating them correctly. So, Don't be mad if some of the words translated into Japanese is incorrect.

A whole moon, means a whole month (though, that's what my sister told me).

R&amp;R


	4. The Task and Burden of a Leader

**Thirty Minutes Later...  
**"Explain to me one more time what we're doing here." Michelangelo whispered to his older brothers, as they all just stood or sit on a rooftop doing nothing but waiting for something to happen. The three older brothers all let out groans of annoyance at their youngest brother wanting them to explain the situation to him, for the tenth time in a row.

"Mikey, we've been over this." Leonardo told his brother, slowly and clearly, so that hopefully the orange-banded turtle could finally get what they're doing. "That building has the same logo as the van that was used to kidnap the family." He pointed a finger down to the building below them, which Leo was able to find the building after following the scent he and his brothers went to around the city while keeping a sharp eye on that logo. "So, if we wait here long enough, one of the kidnappers will eventually show his face. And when he does, we'll make him tell us where they took them."

"And then we got ourselves a van!" Mikey added in, getting pumped up on the thought of actually driving a real car instead of his video games that involves racing cars. Frustrated and regaining the headache, Leo face-palmed himself.

_'For once in his life, can't he take things a bit more seriously?'_

_Doubt that; he sounded very serious when he believes that you four will end up getting a van, in the process on attacking the kidnapper._

"Just hit the guy I tell you to." Leo told his brother, not wanting to deal with his youngest brother asking obnoxious questions about what they should with the van while they wait for the kidnappers to show up.

"Will do!" Mikey replied, giving him a thumbs up on a way of telling the eldest turtle that he actually understood what Leo wants him to do.

"Are you sure this is gonna work?" Raphael asked the blue-banded turtle, having serious doubts that the turtle may had made an error of the logo being the spot where the van would return to and that the kidnappers could be someplace else. Leo turned his gaze to his brother, the look of being annoyed being gone and replaced by a calm face.

"To be honest, Raph, I'm not really certain if this'll work." He answered honestly, making the red-banded turtle confused and not very pleased at what he just said.

"And yet, we came here and are just waisting our times waiting for something that may or may not show up?" Leo narrowed his eyes at his brother, hearing the fury and impatientness building up from within the tone of Raph's voice.

**_Beta-Brother Raphael trying to question Pup's position as Alpha of team and to bring Pup down to Beta-Brother's Rank, no doubt even lower. Make Beta-Brother see reason and prevent fight to happen, or team will most likely divide._**

"Unless you got a better idea on how to find them, this spot is basically the only place we have to take our chances with." He then turned his gaze back to the building below them. "It may take some time for something to happen, but we have to be patient and wait for them to come to us." _'Because, unfortunately, the scent of the human girl and her father's now completely in the mix of the city's own scent and I can't smell my own blood anywhere except to the exact place where I let the van get away.' _"We'll only wait for a few hours, three at the most, and if nobody shows up, then we'll leave and try something else. I have a back up plan if this plan doesn't work." _'And it has better work, or we're screwed and it may take me awhile for the back up plan to take effect if this idea fails.'_

* * *

**Two Hours Later...  
**"Okay, I'm thinking of something green. Ga-reen. Ga-reen..."

"Is it Raphael again?"

"Man, you're good at this!"

While Mikey and Donnie played another game of I Spy, with Mikey using Raph to be the one thing or person he spies and sees, Leo continued on standing on the ledge and staring down at the building below them.

_It's already been two hours and nobody shown up. You and your brothers should leave this place and start using the back up plan._

_'Give me one more hour to see if they will and if they don't show up, then I'll try to put the back up plan in action.' _Leo thought to himself, shaking his legs a bit to rid away the feeling of his legs falling asleep from standing still in the same position for a few hours.

_Speaking of the back up plan, how can you be certain that you can get the help from the pigeons and/or crows when you never made any communication with the birds at all in your entire life?_

_'...Again, I'm not really sure how. I guess you can call it an "instinctive communication" or something.'_

_...Gonna have to agree with Raphael about your plan; it doesn't sound like it's going to work, and even if it does somehow works, it may not end out the way you've planned it._

The blue-banded turtle clenched his hands into fists and grinded his teeth from his conscience's lack of trust in the turtle, and to not let out his anger while his brothers are with him.

_'Great, first Raph questions my decision of the mission, and now my conscience's agreeing with him. Well, excuse me for sucking at this job as leader of the team, but I never asked to be leader and if this plan does fail, then we can all thank Sensei for his choice on who to be leader!'_

**_Calm down, Pup! No one second guessing decision as leader of team; Beta-Brother and Omega-Brothers' merely just wondering if Pup's certain that plan will succeed and if Pup has any more ideas how to find kidnapped family if first plan doesn't work._**

Taking his instinct's idea, the eldest turtle closed his eyes and took in deep, cleansing breath to tame the burning fire of anger and rage within his heart. In just about five deep breathing, the burning fire went down and his hands ceased their clenching before his nails could dig deep into his skin to have his palm bleed.

_'...You're right... Sorry about that.' _Leo apologized in his head, his gaze back to the building across and keeping his hearing on his brothers to be sure they haven't left their post.

**_No need for Pup to apologize. No one blames Pup on having to take burden as Alpha-Beta of Pack._**

_'...I just don't get it... Why did he made me leader? Why didn't he let Raph be the leader and leave me out of it, when I told them that I didn't want to become leader?!'_

* * *

**Flashback...  
**"The one who shall be leader of the team... Will be Leonardo." When Splinter spoke those three words, all four turtles were wide-eyed shocked from the startling news. However, out of all the turtles, none of the brothers were more shocked than Leonardo, who was not only startled from the news of him being picked as leader, but he also felt angered and sort of betrayed of his sensei picking him to lead, even when he has told him and his brothers that he didn't want to be leader.

_'Wh... What?' _He asked in his thoughts, his gaze completely focused on the floor beneath him and his hands slowly clenching themselves into fists.

_Sensei said that you will be lea-_

_'I heard what he said! What I want to know is why he chose me to lead, when I just told him and my brothers, like seven minutes ago, that I didn't want to be leader!' _He then felt a hand get placed on his right-shoulder, bringing him out of his thoughts and to, without realizing it and forgetting to show his submission, lifted his gaze to meet Splinter's reddish-brown eyes.

"I know that you shall lead the team to victory, my son." He told his eldest son, his eyes showing how much trust he's placing on his child to save that family and to lead his brothers to victory for whatever mission they will have to go through.

_'He can't be serious! There's no way that I'm going to be leader, and he can't make me!'_

_Father has made his choice on making you leader, and you're going to have to honor his wishes by being the leader_

_'...No... No! I don't want to be leader and I don't plan on taking that position at all!' _With the feeling of his father's hand still placed on his shoulder and the reddish-brown eyes telling him that he'll make the humanoid-rat happy by taking the role of leadership, Leo lowered his gaze back to the floor and took a deep breath. "Sensei, though I feel honored that you would entrust me to have the responsibility as leader, I'm gonna have to refuse on taking the position and suggest that you give the role of leadership to Raphael." He could sense the three gazes of his brothers staring at him with shock and confusion, with Mikey and Donatello with the confused gazes, and Raph in the shock gaze. The rat simply stared down at the downcast gaze of his eldest son, then let out a deep sigh and removed his hand off of the turtle's shoulder.

"I'm afraid I cannot allow that, my son." Splinter informed his son, making the teen's anger rising within his heart. "I thought this through very carefully and have meditated to see who would be able to take on the leader position of the team, which lead me to the conclusion that you, and _only_ you, can take the position."

_'Yeah, right. More like short and easy to simply pick me in just mere minutes, because you trained me the most and that I'm the eldest of my siblings.'_

_Maybe there could be a more reasonable matter to why he chose you to lead and not Raph._

_'Oh, yeah? Like what? Maturity? Clear-headed? More experienced? Because I didn't ask or think that I should be the leader?'_

_...Not really sure what reason he has, but Father has his reasons to make you leader and you should respect his choice of reason._

_'I'll respect his choice, if it's of something the _**_both_**_ of us can agree on and this isn't one of those terms.' _"Sensei, with all due respect, I insist that you should reconsider and make Raph the leader. I mean, let's face it: He has all that it takes to lead the team, and both Don and Mikey follow his every command. I, on the other hand, have no experience or knowledge on how to lead a team, which may cause us to fail or even put our lives at stake if I were to lead them... Also, I was sort of hoping that you would allow me to do a solo assignment for the mission." Raph and Donnie both glared at their eldest brother at what he just said, while Mikey looked a bit sad and a little rejected on what his big brother just asked of their father to permit him to do.

"Hang on a second. You can't just ask Sensei to give you a solo mission; what about us?!" Raph yelled, making the blue-banded turtle wince a bit from the tone of volume of his voice that left ringing sounds in the turtle's left-ear.

"Raph's right, Leo; it wouldn't be fair for the rest of us if you get a solo mission and we don't!" Donnie butted in, also displeased by their brother asking for something that they all would want to do as well. "And also, why do you want Sensei to make Raph leader and not either me or Mikey? Well, actually, I can understand why you're not asking Mikey to be leader."

"Hey!" The youngest turtle whined out, glaring at the tallest brother. "I'm right here, ya know!" Feeling the headache getting worse, Leo closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, or beak, over his mask to try and control the rising ache of the migraine coming in.

_'If this keeps up, I'm really going to lose all sense of control and my head will most likely explode from all this noise and pain building up inside.'_ The blue-banded turtle lifted his gaze from the floor and turned to stare at his three brothers and gave them his own glare to show them his serious face. "Before I explain myself, you three shut your traps for a moment." By his command, and a bit stunned by their eldest brother giving them an order and a bit pissed off, the three younger turtles stayed quiet. "First off, when I asked Sensei on wanting to do a solo mission, I meant on having a solo _covert_ mission. You know? After we find the kidnappers and have them take us to their hideout, I would go over and observe the enemy's territory, figure out what they're doing, and return to the team to inform them what I just discovered and to warn you three on what to expect from their base, before rushing off into a fight and rescuing the two humans." The three turtles all shared the same look of understanding when their eldest brother explained himself about the solo mission he requested for. "And Second... Donnie, the reason why I'm insisting Raph to be leader, is because he's ready to lead the team." The red-banded turtle lifted his head high and smirked at his brother's words, while the purple-banded turtle didn't look in the least satisfied.

"But what about me? I have what it takes to be a leader! Also, we don't _always_ follow Raph's every command!" Emerald-green eyes glared at the genius turtle, forcing the second-youngest turtle to keep his mouth shut and shutter in fear of the possible chance of Raphael beating him until he surrenders.

**_Beta-Brother Raphael may have some qualities of being leader, but Beta-Brother's too dominant towards Kins and shows no compassion, unless Beta-Brother in good mood._**

"Donnie, being the smartest of the group, doesn't automatically means you have what it takes to be leader." Leonardo told his brother, who seemed a bit confused on what the eldest turtle means. "Yes, it is true that a leader should plan ahead, but that doesn't mean a leader can have all the time he needs to come up with a plan, and to be honest, you're not really the fast thinker of the family; you take too much time on coming up with the perfect idea or plot and you get easily stressed when pressured."

"Not to mention, you rushed out into a battle, all because of some girl you just saw and drooled over of the sight of her appearance." Raph added, snickering when he got his younger-brother to blush and pout in embarrassment.

"Anyway... As for my reason for Raph to be leader: Yes, Raph does attend to rush into a fight, without thinking or coming up with a plan, besides beating some heads. And yes, he isn't really the smartest or could ever come up with a plan."

"Grrr..." The red-banded turtle turned his gaze to his eldest brother, who showed no sign of being afraid of the threatening glares of the emerald-green eyes.

"However, because of his strength and ability to both lash out and rush an opponent while in battle, makes him the perfect candidate on keeping the enemy busy, with Mikey doing some distractions and my assistance on helping out on the battlefield, while you, Donnie, can try to think up with a quick plan on taking the enemy down. Raph will also be able to protect or defend the both of you, if you need to buy some time or need a few moments to catch your breath from some wounds you may obtain." He then turned his gaze to the humanoid-rat, who had stayed quiet to allow his eldest child to explain himself and hear his reason to why he insist his first younger-brother should be the leader. "So, you see, Sensei, Raph has more quality and more experience on leading the team and would wish of you to make him the leader." Splinter had his eyes closed, absorbing all the information his eldest child just gave to him and his brother, as he slowly stroke his long-beard and try to come up with an answer.

_...He isn't going to agree to your terms... Father's still going to make you leader._

_'It has to work! Sensei knows that I speak the truth and that I'm right about Raph being able to take on the role of leader! It just has to work and he has to say yes!'_ The turtle bowed his head and closed his eyes, hoping that if his luck is to be on his side, he'll not only avoid being leader, but to be able to take a position that'll most likely bring him a step closer on gaining his freedom and having some alone time without his brothers shadowing him. However, deep down in his rage-burning heart and nearly untamable soul knew, long before Splinter ceased his thinking, that the answer the blue-banded turtle wanted to receive isn't going to come.

"Despite on your facts of Raphael to be the best choice to be leader and you being able to complete a covert mission, Leonardo, I'm afraid that I must refuse to both your proposal of a solo mission and giving the position of leadership to Raphael." His deep-blue eyes snapped up wide from the news, feeling his hands clenching and the burning fire in his heart rising to a point where he believes his patience is now hanging on to a single thread that's about to snap at any moment.

"But, Sensei, please! I-!"

"**Jūbun'na **(Enough)**!**" Stomping the pointed-end of the cane to the floor, the eldest turtle snapped his mouth shut by the order of the rat and bowed to his sensei to show he was sorry and is begging for his forgiveness. "I understand that you don't want to be leader, Leonardo, and are trying to get me to have Raphael to take the position, but I'm afraid I have my own reason on not making him leader: Raphael may act like a leader to Donatello and Michelangelo, but he isn't ready to take the position as leader for something much more serious than a simple game of 'Follow the Leader' or trying to be the one always in control." Turning his reddish-brown eyes to glare down at Raphael, giving him a disappointing gaze that tells him he was pleased on how he made his second-youngest brother to keep quiet by using a threatening glare. "A true leader never forces a member of his team by using violence or threats to get them to do as he say, he must show compassion and understanding to his team and then he gives them an order, without being too forceful on them unless his team needs to know how serious or important his orders are." Splinter then turned his gaze back to his eldest child, who has once again refused to meet the rat's eyes. "You must understand, my son, that you, and _only_ you, are the only one suitable on taking this responsibility and no matter how much you despise taking the position, you are the leader of this team and you shall take on the role I've bestowed upon you. Do I make myself clear?"

Silence was all the rat gotten from the turtle, for the eldest teen was using whatever will-power and strength he has within him to not snap and, to his horror, attack his father in order to release the burning anger within his heart and soul.

_'No... I can't do this! He has to realize that I can't do this!'_

_You heard what Father said and whatever he says, goes and must me carried out without question or hesitation... You know that you have to take this role and to respect Father's wishes, for it is one of the rules of Bushidō._

_'That stupid code of honor?... Is that why I'm putting up with his sh-?'_

**_Pup, Alpha's words is law and sacred. No one in Pack disrespects Alpha's authority or decision on how Alpha runs Pack, even if member of pack someday leaves Pack... Right now, Pup must honor Alpha's words, now that Alpha gave Pup rank of Alpha-Beta. Pup _**_must_**_ follow Alpha's orders and wishes._**

Biting the inside of his lip as a distraction for his anger, Leonardo was able to calm himself enough to answer back to the rat.

"**Hai**... _Sensei_." He forced out, keeping himself low and still bowing to show his submission to his master. Knowing that his eldest child shall fulfill the task and duty that he has given to the blue-banded turtle, Splinter nodded his head in satisfaction that his son shall take over the role of leadership of the team.

"**Guddo** (Good)." He then turned to his three younger-sons, who had all stayed quiet during the conversation and looking a bit stunned on how it played out before their eyes. "You now have a leader on your team, and as such, you three our to follow and obey Leonardo's command. Do I make myself clear?" Quickly and immediately, not wanting to make their master angry, the three boys bowed.

"**Hai**, Sensei." They spoke in a unison, which they gained another nod from Splinter.

"Now that you have a leader, it is time you four head back to the surface and complete your mission: Find and rescued the kidnapped family." He then stomped his cane to the floor again, though it wasn't with much force like the last one had. "**Kyakka** (Dismissed)!" Giving them his word to leave, the turtles got to their feet and swiftly went out through the shōji. However, just before he left the Dojo and heard Splinter has entered his own dorm from the sound of his own shōji door opening and closing, Leo whispered out a warning that not even Splinter would be able to hear.

**"Watashitachi no chi ga kon'ya o kobosanakereba naranai baai, sore wa anata jishin no te ni yotte okonawa rete ita** (If our blood must spill tonight, it was done by your own hands)**."**  
**End of Flashback...**

* * *

"Give it up already. The guy's not gonna show." Raphael's voice brought the eldest turtle out of his trains of thoughts, who now stood beside the blue-banded turtle.

_'Not now, Raph...' _"We have to be patient." Leonardo told his brother, turning his gaze to meet the annoyed emerald-green eyes of the second-eldest turtle, then turning back to gaze back down to the building.

_He's not going to let you push that aside. You must make a decision, and quickly, before he tries to break up the team by taking the leader position._

_'Hey, if he wants to be leader, I'll gladly step down and let him lead. What's the problem with that?'_

**_Alpha chose Pup to be Alpha-Beta, not Beta-Brother Raphael, and as eldest pup of Alpha, Pup must respect and honor Alpha's choice and wishes._**

_'...You're making it sound like Bushidō.'_

_Well, in some wolf ways of life, their rules are sort of like Bushidō._

"No, you have to come up with a better plan, 'cause the four of us standing here with our thumbs up our noses..."

"I don't think they'd fit." Mikey informed his older-brother, after examining the size of both his thumbs to be too big for their beaks.

"Is pointless." While Raph finished his ranting, Leo's sharp hearing caught the sound of a vehicle coming their way and when he looked down, he had a smirk on his face.

"You sure about that, Raph?" He asked his brother, his eyes narrowing with disgust but shining with satisfaction that his first idea on finding the car of the kidnappers has worked.

"He just showed up, didn't he?" To answer his question, the van that had taken the family pulled up in-between the two buildings below them and out came the slim-human. "I should've complained two hours ago." Leo let out a quiet chuckle at his brother's remarks.

_'So, this is what it feels like to wanna rub it in another person's face. Doesn't seem cool or fair when it's you that's been proven wrong, huh, Raph?'_

**_Now, now, Pup. Don't stoop to Beta-Brother's level; Pup more mature and better than to play Beta-Brother's games._**

_Besides, right now you have a team to lead and it's about time to make your next move._

"You were right, Leo. One of the kidnappers actually came." Donatello stated, a little stunned that he was going to doubt his brother's guidance on how to find the kidnappers but was no longer having any of it, now that they have a chance to find the girl and her father. "What do we do next?" Gazing down at the van and seeing that the slim-human was the only one that showed, Leonardo knew that they could easily take him down and trap him within the alley, once he takes out one of the tires of the car with his shuriken. However, before he could tell his brothers what their next plan was, the hotheaded brother butted in.

"I know exactly what do to next." Raph answered the genius turtle and then, without paying any attention to his eldest brother and most likely going to ignore whatever he was going to say to him, he swiftly made his way down the fire escape beneath them and slowly came out of the shadows to frighten the human. Leo let out a low growl.

**_Foolish Beta-Brother, already not given an order and still goes to jeopardize mission._**

_'I'll be sure to give him a good punishment in next training session. Right now, it's best we go with his plan and have him see what his rash decision will put the team to.' _He then turned to Mikey and Don and, silently gesturing them to join their brother to the alley, watched his two brothers follow Raph's lead and slowly making their way to the stunned, slim-human, while he stayed put on the rooftop.

_What are you waiting for? Get down there and grab him, already!_

_'No... Not yet. I'm going to see Raph taking over the situation and, if I'm right, then they can easily take care of the human.'_

_And if you're wrong?_

_'Well, if I'm wrong, then I'll stop the human, myself, in order to fix my mistake.'_

"All right, buddy." Raph told the slim-human, who looked a bit scared on having to see giant humanoid-turtles slowly walking towards him and appear to want to snatch him for something he has or knows what they want. "We can do this the easy way, or... My vote... The hard way." Raph, Mikey and Donnie then swiftly pulled out their weapons, making a few warning bells ringing within Leo's head that they were going to do something stupid and that he should get down there to stop them.

"Yeah, look at it logically." Donnie told the human, getting a bit overconfident and not noticing the human reaching for something behind him. "There are four of us and one of you."

"Uh, Donnie, I think it's just the three of us." Mikey interrupted, looking up and seeing Leo had stayed up on the rooftop and glaring down at the scene before him.

"He's still here, Mikey, and is most likely just keeping an eye out in case this human's friends were to spring up on us. So, it's still the four of us against him." He then turned back to the human, smirking on how they were finally going to save that family, along with him most likely making friends with the girl he fell for. "What are you gonna do?"

_Uh, shouldn't you warn them about those weapons that the humans used to injure your arm?_

_'...I would, but I think it would be best if they learn to never underestimate our enemies or be overconfident on how easy they'll think the mission or fight will be.'_ Leo thought to himself, watching as the human swiftly pulled out a silver-shiny weapon that shot out the same kind of blast-energy that the black gun-like blasters did at his brothers, who all dodged from the blasts and landed up on the higher steps of the fire escape.

"You had to ask!" Raph yelled at Donnie, automatically blaming the genius turtle for having them be caught by surprised and allowing the human to retreat back into the car to drive away.

"He's getting away again!" Donnie hollered out, who seemed ready to throw in the towel as they watch the car veer over the curves of the sidewalk and back on to the street. As soon as the van went back on the road of the street, Leo took a few steps back and launched himself in the air, landing on the top of the building across that was higher than the roof they were just on.

"No, he's not!" He called out to his brothers, waving at them to follow him and without much of a complaint, the three younger-brothers scaled up to the roof and followed their eldest brother running and leaping over the rooftops to catch up to the slim-human.

**_Pup can easily stop human on own, since there's only one of human and won't have any of pack members to attack Pup and Kins while focus on keeping vehicle under control. Why wait Omega-Brothers and Beta-Brother to catch up and not allow self to run on all-four?_**

_'Because, if I do that, they're going to get a bit suspicious about my constant bailing on them and if I were to keep doing that on them, they'll tell Sensei about it and then I'll be constantly watched over, just like when I was ten years old. Want me to go through enough repeat like that, which may result of me being held back for my chance on freedom?'_

**_...Good point, Pup._**

_But the question still remains: How are you going to stop that car, when you won't use your actual speed?_

_'Leave that to the wind and a falling star.'_

Making the first move and landing on an apartment building, Raphael launched himself on top of the car and held on to both side of the top, startling the human when he heard and felt the thump and tried to shake the red-banded turtle off of his tail. After taking a hard turn to the left, Raph lost his grip and ended up being thrown against the side of a house. Luckily for him, his shell was tough and didn't even get a single crack or scrape, meaning that he was going to be bruised for a good while.

While the red-banded turtle laid in his spot to catch his breath a bit, the three remaining turtles were still hot on his tail and followed him from the high-left on the rooftops. Since Mikey has the most energy and speed (or so, that's what Splinter, Raph and Donnie thought), he was in front of the tracking team, with Donnie right behind him and Leo being at the back to save his energy for he will need it if they want to stop that car.

_You sure this will work?_

_'Like I told Raph, I'm not honestly sure. Just know that we only have three chances on stopping that van, which I hope it'll only take one shot to bring it down if I go for one of the front tires. If I miss and the car starts to get away any further, I'll have to take the risk on deserting my brothers and will have to bring the slim-human down by mere force.'_

**_Omega-Brother Raphael did that and end up being tossed aside._**

_'Because he didn't use his Sai to keep himself on longer and thought he could use his own strength to break through the glass and make the human crash.' _Leonardo then stared down at the van ahead of them and saw the human staring at them through the rear-view mirror and notice him reaching out for something in his car. The blue-banded turtle instantly knew what it was. "Mikey, Don, back away! He's reaching for his weapon!" He hollered out, and at the moment he finished his sentence, the weapon came out and started blasting at them. Following their brother's command, Michelangelo and Donatello leap away to the other side of the street, leaving the eldest turtle still hot on the human's tail. While he put on a bit more speed to catch up to the white-car, Leo shook his left-wrist a bit to have one of his shuriken to be held within his hand and in-between his small-finger and index-finger. _'Okay, better time this right with the wind.' _His then closed his eyes and listened very hard for the wind he knew that will help him stop the car with one, while using his sixth sense and sense of feeling to guide him across the building. The very moment he was in front of the edge and when he heard the wind starting to blow against him, he snapped his eyes open and launched himself in the air, tossing his shuriken aside and watching it being directed towards the van from the guidance of the wind... It swiftly reached its target: The front-left tire.

When metal-edge made contact through hard-rubber, burst of air gust out of the tire, forcing the car to swerve out of control. The human tried to regain control by pushing on the breaks, he even went as far as using his emergency breaks, but it wasn't enough to slow down the car and when he kept his eyes off the road for a mere second, the front of the car hit itself against a streetlight and forced the car to launch itself sideways and in the air. The car did two flips in the air, landed roughly on the back side of itself in-between the flips, and finally stopped itself by laying on its left-side, letting out a long car-honk that none of the humans could either hear or bother to come out and see what was wrong until it finally gave out and the headlights went off. Up above on a ledge of a wall, Leonardo smiled down in satisfaction that his capture of the car has been successful.

"Now we're getting somewhere." He said to himself, silently jumping off of the wall and making his way towards the shadow of a building closest to the fallen car.

_How should you approach the situation?_

_'We go around back; his heartbeat is still beating frantically, meaning that he's still conscious and scared that he's going to get caught. He'll try to sneak out around back in case we grab him at the front of the car.'_

_But what if he were still at the front of the car and is waiting to bail out the moment you four are at the back?_

_'Not a problem. The guys can go to the back and I will stay behind at the front, which we'll be able to caught off all his exit. And before you say anything about his weapon, it won't be of use to him anymore; I hear it letting out sparks and static, meaning that it most likely got busted up from the tumbling. He's completely defenseless and will soon be at our mercy to spare his life.' _He then turned to his back, knowing that his brothers had finally caught up to him and to rejoin him on their capturing mission. He then stared at his three brothers, with all three of them making eye-contact with him. "**Senaka mawari iku** (Go around back)**."** He whispered out, earning a firm nod from the turtles and slowly stalk towards the fallen van, all with their weapons drawn out.

While Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo went to the rear, Leonardo jumped up to the top-side of the car and, using his trusting Katanas, sliced through the metal-door and tossed them aside to get a better view of the inside. Just as he suspected, the slim-human is wide awake and looked completely petrified at the sight of the turtle standing in front of his only exit of his destroyed van.

"P-P-Please, don't h-hurt me!" He cried, holding out an arm in front of him to uselessly defend himself in case the turtle was going to hurt him. Glaring down at the human and ignoring his cry for mercy, Leo sheathed his swords away and grabbed for the human's arm, keeping a firm grip in case the human were to try and resist but not too much force to avoid breaking the human's weak bone-structure. The moment his skin made contact with the human and while pulling him out of the car, the blue-banded turtle made a startling discovery.

_'...They're not human.' _He thought to himself, as he tossed the human to the street below them and leaving him gasping for air, while he remained on top of the car to keep a firm eye on him in case he tries to run away.

_Who aren't human?_

_'Those men we were fighting earlier, the ones that grabbed the family... They're not human.'_

"Mom?" Mikey's voice and choice of word immediately gained Leo's attention, who launched himself off of the car and landed next to the youngest-turtle and behind the genius turtle. When he stared down at an object that Donatello held within his hands, the blue-banded turtle's blood started to boil and freeze at the sight of what he despise so much: A canister, filled with the exact same ocean-blue/aquamarine-green substance that the turtle will never forget that had turned his owner, or _master_, into a humanoid-rat, his brothers into humanoid-turtles, and secretly turned himself into a humanoid-wolf/turtle.

"So that's the..." Raph was completely loss to words, stunned that he would actually be seeing what the canister at their home actually held before it spilled all over Yoshi and them when they were normal creatures.

"Mutagen that turned us all into what we are now." Donnie finished for his brother, astounded that he finally gets to see what the substance in the canister at their home actually held and made them who they are. While Mikey suggested that they should drink it, with Donnie thinking it would be an idiotic idea and Raph teasing on how it may be an improvement if their youngest-brother actually get turned into a pile of goo instead of a super-mutant, Leonardo angrily glared down at the canister and wanted nothing more than to snatch it out of his brother's hand and force those four men, who he just discovered aren't humans, to feel the burning sensation of being turned into something they're not.

However, he pushed that thought aside and swiftly went back to the human he left on the street, who was trying to nurse the headache he obtained from the car accident and to wobbly get back to his feet. He then grabbed for the back of the human's white-tank top shirt with his left-hand and dragged him across the hard-surface of the street, as he made his way towards his brothers, who were now arguing with Mikey for bringing up the alien robots again.

_Don't they know that this isn't the time for bickering or arguing at the moment? You still have no idea where they're keeping the family._

_'I know that, but this human does and once we get him to talk, or better yet, shows us where the family's been taking to, we'll have our answer. But first...'_ Once he released his hold on the human's shirt,Leo placed two fingers against his mouth and let out a high-pitch whistle that stopped his brothers arguing and made them, including the human, to cover their ears from how high and painful the whistling irritated their hearings.

"Now that I have your attentions," he started. "As you all finally figured it out, Whoever kidnapped those people are somehow connected to what happened to us fifteen years ago. And though we made not know how it's possible... Mikey, let go of his face. He's not an alien robot." Leo ordered his brother without staring at him, who quickly let go of the human's face, who made out a few muffling sounds of pain when the orange-banded turtle tried to pull his face off for believing it was some mask to hide the alien robot body.

"Okay. He's in the clear. But those other guys were totally alien robots." Mikey told his brothers, not dropping this theory or belief that he in fact saw one of the human's body to be an alien body. After shaking his head silently, Leo continued on with his own theory.

"But this man may have some answers for us which could give us some clues about those people he was working with."

"Alien robots!" Mikey interrupted, earning a good smack against the head by Raph's fist.

"Enough already, Mikey!" The red-banded turtle groaned out, snatching the canister out of Don's hands and grabbing a fist full of the human's shirt. "Time to get some answers. Who are you, and what's goin' on?"

_Should we let Raphael deal with the interrogation? He did goof up on letting the human get away._

_'Raph may be a bit hardheaded and rash, but he knows better than to go to such extreme measures.'_

_Really? Because why is he holding the canister and looks ready to use it at his disposal?_

_'Most likely to use as a last result to scare the human into telling us the truth, by stating we'll turn him into a mutant if he doesn't tell us what we want to know... Again, I trust Raph to not actually turn him into a mutant.'_

_You better be right about that._

"Name's Snake, and I got nothing to say to you hideous freaks." The slim-human, now known as Snake, sneered out, glaring at the red-banded turtle's evil-smile when he showed that he wasn't going to squeal.

"Oh, well, that's 'cause you don't know us yet." Raph told the human, tossing him towards Donnie and Mikey, who both grabbed for his arms to prevent him from getting away. "See, we were just regular guys until we got hit with a little of this." He told the human, holding out the canister after removing one of the ends and waving the canister a bit, as if trying to figure out which side the substance should drip or fall out of.

"Wha-what are you doing?" Snake stuttered out, not liking the smirk on the turtle's face when he came up closer and tipped the canister in front of him to let a small trail of the substance come out.

"Playing a little game I like to call 'Mutation Roulette'." The trail of ooze started to glide down the glass and began to reach out for the human below it. "Now you could turn out handsome like me, or you might end up disgusting and deformed, like Mikey here."

"Hey!" The orange-turtle whined out, glaring at his brother for still teasing him of the way he looks because of his freckles or being shorter than the rest of his brothers.

"So, you feel lucky?" Without waiting for an answer, he tipped the canister all the way sideways, allowing more of the substance to pour out more and to simply dangle in the midair while ready to fall on top of the human before them. Leo let out a small warning growl, gaining Raph's attention and sending him a warning glare to not take it any further or to even attempt on actually mutating the human, who gave the blue-banded turtle a look that states to give him a bit more faith and trust on what he's doing before turning back to the scared-human below them.

"Okay, okay! I'll talk!" Snake hollered out, not wanting to be turned into a hideous freaks like the four turtles that now have him to their mercy. Getting the right reaction and having to enjoy himself on tormenting the human, Raph pulled the canister back and made the substance to trail back inside the canister. "They call themselves the Kraang. They been grabbing scientists from all over the city." Despite still being dissatisfied of his brother almost mutating the human in order to get the information out, he smirked that his trust in his brother has proven to be useful and that his brother assured him that he wouldn't betray his trust so simple as to stoop to their enemy's level.

"That worked pretty good," he praised his younger-brother.

"Of course it did. Would you wanna look like Mikey?" Raph asked his brother, still feeling in the mood to tease their baby brother for being a bit different than the rest of them because of his freckles.

"I'm right here." Michelangelo told his brother, feeling as if Raphael is purposely saying those things in front of him and actually pretending that he wasn't with them.

"What do they want with scientists?" Leonardo asked the human, giving him a firm glare to not lie to him or else he was really in for it.

"I don't know." Giving him a bit of a reminder and a warning, Raph waved the canister in the air and once again brought the look of fear back to the human's face. "All I know is they're taking them out of the city tonight, but I don't know where!" The red-banded turtle turned to his eldest-brother, knowing that he could easily tell if the human is lying to them or not, and when he received a firm nod that the human is telling the truth, Raph placed the nozzle back on the canister and sealing the ooze from getting out of its prison.

"This is awesome!" Donatello cried out, gaining confused looks on everyone's faces. "That girl's dad is a scientist. I'm a scientist. She is so gonna like me." Raphael gave him an annoyed look, Mikey simply shook his head, Snake gave him a good look that clearly says 'no way', and Leo narrowed his eyes with disapproval.

_You've got to be kidding... Seriously?! That's all Donnie can think of or come up, at this very moment?! Just because that girl's father is a scientist, doesn't automatically means she'll actually come to like him for being a scientist!... And why have this conversation, when you need to find out where Snake and his acquaintances took that small family to!_

"I don't think you're her type." Snake told Donnie, earning a glare by the purple-mask turtle.

**_Pup, Omega-Brother Michelangelo and Beta-Brother Raphael aren't only ones know Omega-Brother Donatello never be able to court female-human._**

_'Can we, please, not think about that right now? We have a mission to do and we need to take care of it; time is of the essence.' _"Where are they now?"

* * *

**Fifteen Minutes Later; Back to the Lair...  
**Snake's capture has brought some good news, but has also brought some bad news for the team: The good news, because they had forced Snake to talk and show the turtles where the small family was taken to, they now knew which building they'll soon-be breaking into and Leo to believe more to Mikey's theory of those men in black-suits could really be aliens in robot-bodies. However, the bad news, because of said youngest-brother inability to pay attention, they let Snake get away and most likely go off to warn those suspicious of their soon arrival. Luckily for them, both Raph and Leo knew he was hiding behind a dumpster and, rather than jumping up on him and once again keeping him captured, they decided to give him a false tip to deliver to the ones called 'the Kraang' about them using Snake's van to sneak into their secret headquarters by midnight. Now, the time was 11:45, which means they had only fifteen minutes left to get themselves to the headquarters and begin their mission.

While Raph went to chasing Mikey around for thinking it was adorable of him on how he was talking to Spike, his pet turtle, and with Donnie fabricated some Tegaki for them to use for stealth, Leo was in the Dojo and plotting out on how they should take care of the situation.

**_*Crash!*_**

_"Ahh!"_

_"I'm gonna Shellac you!"_

Although, it was a bit hard for him to concentrate with all the screaming two of his brothers are making.

_'Can't there ever be a day where they can just be quiet for at least a few minutes?' _Leo asked in his thoughts, as he tried to regain his focus on his plan. In front of him are a metal nut, a pencil, two chopsticks, a button, a dice, a tac and an eraser. The pencil and chopsticks formed as a triangle, picturing to be the walls of the building, while the metal nut sat in the center of the triangle, playing as the building most likely holding the its captives. The dice, tac and button are simply to cover the gaps in-between the chopsticks and pencil, which they may also seem to be the blind spots to the twenty men outside of the building guarding the place, which the turtles can use as long as they stay within the shadows and stay quiet. The eraser, held in Leo's right-hand, acts out as Snake's van, where they will use to distract the guards while they scale the wall and get themselves inside the building.

_That's good. And as long as your brothers keep quiet and don't give your position away, then you're all basically good to go._

_'That may be true, but the problem is the inside; we don't know what it's like and, from the size of the building, who knows where that family is being captured on which floor.'_

_...That is very troublesome, indeed. Not only that, but the unknown answer to how many of those 'Kraang' there really are._

**_Even with sharp hearing and strong sense of smell, who knows if Pup be able to track down girl and her father's scent._**

_'And that's not the only thing I worry about. The one thing I'm more concerned about, is one of my brothers giving us away and for the enemy to find us.' _The blue-masked turtle took a good look at his little plot before him, frowning when he knew that the possibility on getting that small family out, without getting caught, are about slim to none. Letting out a deep sigh, he made a mere decision. _'We'll just have to play the rest of the plan by ear.'_

_And what if the mission goes wrong? What will you do then?_

_'...Like I've just said, we'll play it by ear. Once I come up with a back up plan in case something does happen, I'll let you know.' _Firmly nodding at the little plot before him, Leonardo scooped the small items into his and stood up to his feet, making his way towards the exit of the Dojo to put the items back to their original spots before he brought them out.

"No plan ever survives contact with the enemy. It is how you react to the unexpected that will determine if you and your brothers succeed." Splinter told his eldest son from behind, offering the turtle another of his Words of Wisdom. The fifteen year-old ceased his steps for a moment, then turned to give his sensei a moments glance, then he nodded his head in understanding and then turned back to continue on his exit towards the shōji. However, a hand on the shoulder has once again prevented him from leaving the Dojo. "Leonardo, I know you are still upset and possibly angry with me for making you leader, and I do not blame you if you are angry at me. But, I want you to know that I made you leader for a reason." The deep-blue eyed turtle would've been clenching his hands at this very moment, but he didn't want to give away that his sensei was right about him being angry at the humanoid-rat for making him leader, so he clenched his teeth and bit a part of his lip as a substitute.

"Yeah, and what reason is that?" He manage to speak out, without having any anger being sought out within his voice.

"That is for you to discover on your own." Splinter answered, not making the turtle feel any better or confident enough to feel he actually did earned the right to the role Alpha-Beta of the family.

_'Well, that's so much helpful.' _He sarcastically thought to himself. "What if something goes wrong?" _'Because if any of my brother's blood do spill, like I've silently warned you, then it'll be caused by your own hands for your poor choice of decision.'_

"Failure is a possibility every leader must face, Leonardo." Splinter then looked up at the tree that stood up mighty and proud next to them. "It is something I had to face in Japan during my final battle with my enemy, the Shredder." Leo's eyes widen when he heard his sensei's tone getting a bit gentle, which he knew what it means and wants nothing more than to yank himself out of Splinter's grip and make a beeline to his brother and leave the Lair.

_'Oh no, here comes another story that I already know about and prefer to not hear it all over again.'_

**_Sorry, Pup, but gonna have to listen to Alpha retelling Tragic Past._**

_Father is still carrying the burden and pain he has to hold in his heart, and a listening ear, even if one who wish to not hear, is something Father needs at this moment._

Catching another quick glance at the rat and seeing the pain that still held within his reddish-brown eyes, the deep-blue eyed turtle knew that his conscience and instinct are right.

_'Urg... Fine! I'll stay, as I always do, but next story he gives to us, either I'd heard it or not, I'm bailing out of it.'_

"Years ago, Oroku Saki, as Shredder was called then, had been my friend, but the love of a woman came between us. He could not accept it, and his jealousy turned outward in a vengeful attack." As he continued on with the story, Splinter lean in against the strong oak of the tree, with his drooped and the sadness he still held for the passed fifteen years very visible on his face. "And while he could not defeat me that day, my world fell and crumbled around me as the battle took the life of my beloved tang Shen, and I lost my baby daughter, miwa." Leonardo turned to face his sensei and took a small step or two towards the grief-stricken humanoid-rat.

_'If only Tang Shen were here with us, she would be able to tell him to let it go and convince him that it wasn't his fault that she and their daughter died.' _He then lowered his gaze to the floor, now being affected by the sadness and grief the rat still held within his heart and carries as his burden. _'If there were some way to turn back time and prevent all of that from ever happening, I would gladly take that chance and go back to change it, for Sensei.'_

_You do realize that if you were to somehow do that, then you and your brothers would live the rest of your lives as normal-turtles... Or better yet, you and your brothers would possibly cease to exist if you change and/or alter the timeline. Would you still go back and time and change that, all for the sake on making Father happy with his first family?_

_'...I'm not sure what my brothers would say, though I have a hunch that they would want to make Sensei happy as well if given the opportunity... So, yes, I would still do it, even if it means I'll cease to exist.'_

_...You're either speaking as a selfless person who would do anything to make other people happy, or as someone who actually wants death to come before them and welcome it with open arms._

"I lost many things, Leonardo: My family, my home, my name." Leo pushed aside his anger towards leadership for a moment.

"You basically lost everything." He muttered, not realizing how sad his tone of voice sounded to the rat, who turned to stare at his son's downcast face.

"I may have lost much of my life ever since that day." He then pushed aside his sadness, seeing on how the negative emotion can greatly inflict itself upon his eldest child, and then put on a smile on his face. "But I gained many things as well, like the four of you."

When he said that, the humanoid-rat placed a gentle hand on the turtle's right-shoulder, which got the blue-mask turtle to slowly look up and meet into his caring-gaze that told the turtle that despite having to lose what he lost to his enemy, he is and will always be grateful on having to get those turtles and to then have them become his own sons than to have them as just mere pets.

_Even though you wish for Father to be happy, from the look in his eyes, he seems pretty happy on having you four to have come into his life and to actually have a family to raise and love._

**_Every Alpha loves and care for pups, whether they Alpha's by blood or not, and will do whatever it takes to keep pups by their side for as long as Alpha can keep pups close._**

"Don't worry, Sensei. We can handle this." Leonardo reassured the humanoid-rat, smiling gently back to his father and his eyes holding a promise glance that the four of them will return to him.

"Ahh!" Mikey cried out, running pass the rare-touching moment between father and his eldest son, wearing a bucket over his head as if it were to be a makeshift helmet.

"Get back here!" Raph demanded, still holding a wooden-spoon in his left-hand that he still uses to whack his screaming brother with. Both father and eldest son turned to stare at each other, then both closed their eyes and lowered their heads, with Leo placing a hand over his head that signifies that his killer headache is coming back and is most likely going to build up from the continuous screaming going on.

"**Watashi wa kore o shori shimasu** (I'll handle this)." He told Splinter, calmly making his way out of the Dojo and after placing the items he brought out on one of the counters of the kitchen, he came to the living room, where he finds Raph pinning their youngest-brother beneath him and whacking the wooden-spoon on top of Mikey's uncovered head. Despite knowing that the red-masked turtle wouldn't really harm the orange-masked turtle, Leo still has to stop the fight from continuing on and get them ready to leave. He then, like he did after stopping Snake from driving away, placed two-fingers of his right-hand to his mouth and let out a high whistling sound that quickly placed its affect onto his two younger-brothers.

"What the shell was that for, Leo?!" Raph yelled out, trying to get the ringing out of his head, while the youngest-turtle crawled out of the red-masked turtle's grip and also trying to save his hearing from the shrieking cry his brother's whistle just gave to them.

"Because, one, to prevent you from damaging Mikey's brain. And two, because we need to get going; it's almost time." He then turned to the closed doors of Don's Lab. "Donnie, we need to get going! Are the Tegaki ready?!" The metal-doors of Don's Lab swung open and out came said purple-masked turtle, smiling in satisfaction and holding out four pairs of Tegaki, all fabricated and ready to be use.

"They're ready to go, Leo." He answered, earning an approval nod from his brother and a couple of knuckle-cracking from Raph, who looks ready to swipe the Tegaki out of Don's grasp and use them for more than just scaling up walls.

"Alright guys, here's the plan..."

* * *

**12:05; at Building...  
**"Wow, lucky thing that van showed up to distract them." Michelangelo said to his brothers, watching the men below them pondering on where the intruders were at and not being engulfed in flames with the van. Letting out an annoyed sigh, Donatello face palmed himself in the face, forgetting about the Tegaki still attached to his hand.

"Ow!" Donnie cried out, though he wasn't loud enough for the men below them to hear from the fire burning through the metal of the destroyed van.

"That was the plan, Mikey." Leonardo told his brother from above him, reminding the youngest-turtle, again, on how and why the van was there. "We knew snake was hiding in the alley, so Raph and I made him think we would be in the van."

"But we weren't in the van." Mikey pointed out, still being confused on what was going on. The blue-masked turtle shook his head to himself, not wanting to go into more details with his youngest-brother who still won't get the whole thing, even if the eldest-turtle were to give him more of those details.

"Just keep climbing." He told the orange-masked turtle, and continued on scaling up the wall.

"Can do." Mikey replied, getting himself on top of the wall with the rest of his brothers.

Once they were over the wall, they stuck themselves to the shadows, swiftly and silently making their way towards the building and, after finding an air vent a few feet away from the ground, they once again used their Tegaki to climb up the wall and soon found themselves within the vents. Thanks to Leo's sharp hearing and a few routes to take through the vents, the turtles found themselves standing over another air vent that shows them to be in some sort of hallway. Then, hearing two sets of footsteps coming their way and not hearing any more sets of steps coming or around their location, Leo nodded his head to Raph, letting him know that they can spring out of their hiding spot and beat the two men as his heart desires, as long as he doesn't overdo the extent of injury he'll deliver to their enemies. The fall of the vent caught the two men's attention and when they looked up, saw Raph and Leo jumping out of the vent and were soon being tossed aside and beaten to the floor by the two strongest turtles on the team.

After a good eight strikes from each of the two turtles, the two men were down and it doesn't look like they'll be getting up any time soon.

Looking up at the vent to his two remaining brothers, Leonardo firmly nod his head and the two youngest-turtles hopped out of the vent. For safety measures in case any more enemies were to show up and having a hunch they will bring those unknown weapons of theirs, the blue-masked turtle drew out Musashi and Kamiizumi, to use for reflecting or blocking out the energy blasts that were to surely come their way.

"Wow, I've never seen anything like this." Donnie stated, leading the team down a hallway and being too fascinated at the technology surrounding him. "They're using a metal alloy that I don't even recognize." While Mikey and Leo walk pass the genius turtle, Raph came up beside him.

"Gosh! A metal alloy even you don't know about! It boggles the mind." He sarcastically stated, which was his own way of telling his brother that now isn't the time to go sightseeing or distracted by his new discovery.

"Dude, you wanna talk metallurgy with me? Bring it."

_'Not now, you guys. Please, Not. Now!'_

_Looks like you were right, about being worry about your brothers most likely going to blow your cover._

"I don't, and-"

"**Gaizu** (Guys)!" Leo whispered a bit loudly, cutting off to what Raph was going to say to Donnie. "Have you two already forgotten that we're in an enemy's lair? Now is not the time for you two to bash heads with each other. We got a mission to complete." Knowing that their brother is right, the two ceased their fighting and followed their leader down the hallway to meet up with their youngest-brother, who was leaning against the way and staring at another end of a hallway to find something that Raph and Donnie had told him he was imagining: Six, alien robots stood in the center of a crossway hallway, all carrying the same kind of weapons that one of the men in black-suits shot Leo with.

"Whoa. Alien robots." Donnie gasped out, not believing on what he's seeing at this very moment.

"Alien robots, huh?" Leo, who was crouching low to the floor and in front of his youngest-brothers, knew that their cover was going to be blown when he heard Mikey repeating what the purple-masked turtle just said.

"Mikey, don't." He whispered out, but the youngest-turtle didn't hear his command.

"Hmm, where have I heard that before? Oh, yeah!"

**_Silence Omega-Brother's trap of mouth!_**

"I've been saying it for hou-!" Though the turtle was able to cut off his sentence, Leo wasn't quick enough to stop Mikey from blurting out, for he had to hold one of his blade in his mouth to let one of his hands be free and use it to slam it over the youngest-turtle's mouth, that caught the alien robots' attention. After giving Mikey a glare that sent chills down the turtle's shell and spine, leo reclaimed Kamiizumi back into his left-hand from his mouth and sprint after the robots, who all let out massive shots of the energy blasts at the four turtles.

As they dodged the many blasts of the weapons, Raph brought down one alien robot at the far-right, while Leo took down one at the far-left, allowing Mikey to whack a blue alien robot to the floor and sending a good spin-kick to a second blue robot. Donnie, who caught up behind the orange-masked turtle, whacked a silver alien robot that was trying to get back to its feet twice in the head, then slammed the midsection of his Naginata Bō staff at the throat of the robot and flipped himself over the robot's body, lifting up the robot with the Bō staff still against the throat and tossing it in midair. Raph, who pinned his opponent to the ground and twisting an arm behind its back, gabbed his Sai into the robot's head, instantly shutting it off. Another robot came up in front of him and was ready to fire, but the robot Donnie threw in midair slammed into the shooter's head, giving Raph the opportunity to grab for its arm, flip it over his shoulder and gab his Sai into its head like he did with the last one.

With only two of the robots left to take care of, Leo made quick due with the last two. He took down one by ducking away from the blast, having to watch and notice that the aliens don't appear to have that much good of an aim unless their opponents are staying completely still long enough to get a perfect at them, then using a black pipe to help give him a little boost to jump in the air high enough to slice through the neck of the robot. The second robot, who chose to simply shoot straight on ahead instead of moving his aim around and hope to get a lucky shot, got blinded in the eye after Leo reflected one of the energy blast back at it and in that split second of distraction, Leo was once again in the air and twisted himself to cut from the left-shoulder down sideways to the right midsection where the human ribcage would be at. The two pieces of the robot fell and crumbled to the floor, followed by a sound that sounded like it was shutting down and ended with a hiss, as if it were releasing something.

Suddenly, six tentacles sprung out of the robot and when it lifted the rest of its body out of the cockpit of the robot body, the small-alien turned at the turtles and let out a screech-like scream at them. Just as Mikey has been telling his brothers, the alien looks like it was an abnormal-size brain, with small fang-like teeth that don't appear to be strong enough to tear into flesh unless it was a child they were to go after, and lime-green/yellow eyes with sideways slit-pupils. Raph and Donnie screamed from the sight of it, while Leo made quick do at knocking it out by using the hilt of Kamiizumi to gab it on top of the alien's head.

**_Omega-Brother Michelangelo and Pup right all along: Attackers aren't humans, but aliens inside metal-body._**

_'Which also means that those four men that turned us into mutant-animals, aren't the actual cause of our existence; it's the one who created the substance, the _**_Mutagen_**_ as Donnie dubbed it to be, and is having his workers passing it around that could cause harm to innocent lives if held in the wrong hands.'_

"See? See? It's a brain thing!" Mikey exclaimed, holding the unconscious alien upside by grabbing ahold on four of its tentacles and waving it around as if it were an oversized water balloon. "I told you! I told you! But did any of you believe me? No! 'Cause you all think I'm just some kind of bonehead!" The blue-masked turtle folded his arm in front of him and glared with annoyance at his brother.

_'First off, Mikey, not all of us said anything about you being right or wrong about the aliens. And second, you are a bonehead when it comes to you continuously spewing out words while we try to stay in stealth mode. And third... You just woke up the alien from being knocked out.' _Just as he thought, the alien snapped its eyes open and, finding itself hanging upside down and in the clutches of one of the turtles, let out a shriek and made a quick grab for Mikey's arm, chewing biting down at his thick flesh as hard as it could.

"Ow!" He then held out his arm straight, completely baffled at how the alien still tries to take him on without the use of his robot-body, and then tried to shake the alien off of his arm when he thought that it was trying to eat him. "Uh! Ugh! Ah! Ah!" When he used his other arm to put a space between his trapped arm and the alien and tossed his trapped arm to the side, the alien finally let go of him. However, when it hit against the wall and slide back to the floor, its body pressed into a button, which let out an alarm and the whole room flashed a very-bright pink color. From afar places of the building, Leo heard many footsteps ceasing their movements and then heard them making a run towards the south-part of the building. The alien, that was now on the floor, let out another shriek and then scurried off to either warn its friends where the intruders are or to get into a new robot-body and once again take them on.

"Mikey!" The three older brothers yelled, glaring down at him on having to blow their cover.

"Okay! But I was still right about the brain thing. You gotta give me that." Mikey told his brother, still trying to make a point that he was still right about aliens.

Leo turned his head towards the hallway the alien took to make its escape, hearing the approach of the robots coming their way. He was about to get his brothers to lead them back to the vent they came from, when his nose picked up two distinctive scents that he immediately recognized and to the reason why they're putting their life on the line for: The father and daughter.

_'They're still here, which means there's still time to free them!' _He thought to himself and, without thinking on warning or telling his brothers, he took off towards the direction the trail of their scent leads him to.

**_Quickly and Godspeed, Pup; scents towards direction where footsteps are heading for._**

_No doubt that they're going to speed up their schedule on taking them out of the city._

"Leo, wait up!" Mikey cried out, as he, Raph and Donnie followed the blue-masked turtle from behind and all wondering why he simply took off to a random direction, which Donnie believes to lead for something important from the power conduits converging in the direction their eldest-brother is heading for. Six seconds on running down the hallway, the flashing lights ceased and the odd siren-noise went deaf. The trail of the scent eventually lead him to a big-black door on the right-side of the hallway, where through the single-window, Leo could see both father and daughter standing in the center of the small-space room that he believes to be some sort of cell, both looking rather confused on what the siren noise and flashing-pink light was about. Coming up from behind him, the bō staff wielder also looked through the window.

"We found 'em!" Donnie informed Raph and Mikey, which quickly caught the family's attention and staring completely startled at the two turtles looking through the window. Leo's sharp hearing immediately caught sound of something charging and knowing what that sound meant, he brought up his Katana and blocked the first few energy blasts that would've most likely gotten his genius brother if he hadn't intervened. From down the hallway they ran through, a few more alien robots came running towards them.

"We'll hold them off! You pick the lock." Leo quickly ordered his third brother, before he rushed off after the robots running towards them and knocking two of them down and finishing off the third on his own, leaving Raph and Mikey to quickly damage the last two suits to prevent them from working and leaving the aliens defenseless. While more footsteps made their way, the blue-masked turtle turned to see how Donatello was doing on that lock. However, when he saw that his brother was too busy talking to the girl and not working on that lock, he grew pissed that his brother was not only following his order, but appears to be wasting their time

_What is he doing?! He's supposed to undo the lock, not have a friendly chit-chat with that girl while in the middle of a battlefield!_

**_Omega-Brother Donatello not only jeopardizing mission, but also putting Omega-Brother Michelangelo, Beta-Brother Raphael and human family in danger, all to simply get to know girl Omega-Brother's trying to court! Inexcusable and unacceptable! Put Omega-Brother Donatello back in place and remind Kin who's Alpha-Beta of team, Pup!_**

Sheathing up Kamiizumi in its sheath and clenching on tightly to Musashi in a death grip, the turtle's anger and instinct on punishing his brother grew until his control over his anger broke.

_'I'm sorry, Don, but you left me no choice but to do this! Know that this is for your own good!' _With swift speed like the wind itself, Leonardo came up next to his brother and, without warning or thinking of the consequences he'll be facing from Splinter when he hears what he did, rammed him against the door and grabbed the back of Donnie's neck with his left-hand, forcing the turtle into submission and pushing him down on his knees to the panel that controls the door of their cell. "Don. The lock. Now!" After screaming out his last command and giving him a deadly glare that told the purple-masked turtle to not take his orders lightly, released his hold on the turtle's neck and reclaimed Kamiizumi back into his left-hand, charging at the other robots that Mikey knocked over with his Nunchakus to make quick cuts into the bodies.

More footsteps came towards them from the other end of the hallway, and the blue-masked turtle made a quick run towards them, assisting Raphael on bringing them down with the quick swipe of his Katanas and mere force of charging from his enhanced speed. Getting a quick glance to his genius brother and seeing how he's still trying to get the lock undone, along with hearing three sets of footsteps from through the wall, the turtle knew time is running out for the human. Turning his attention to Raph, who kicked away his opponent and stood a few inches behind the purple-masked turtle, he made a quick decision.

"Raph, switch places with Donnie and get that door open!" Also mad and frustrated of his brother taking his time on undoing the lock, Raph shoved Don away from the lock and, taking out of his Sai, jabbed the panel a few times until it let out a few sparks and then made a buzzing sound, which then followed by the door pulling itself open for the turtles to get into the cell. Right when they gotten the door to open, they were too late on saving the father and daughter, as they were carried off to another hallway that leads them to outside of the building and to where a helicopter was waiting for them to be taken off to who knows where.

The four turtles followed to the direction where they heard the girl let out her terrified shriek, while trying to outrun the continuous arrival of alien robots shooting them down with their weapons. They finally made their way out of the building and outside, but they were still being followed and targeted by the aliens. While Raph went to closing the two doors, Leonardo planned on using Kamiizumi to hold the door down by placing it through the handles to prevent the doors from opening from the inside, but turned out that he won't be giving up his sword after Raph ruthlessly yanked an arm off of a robot and placed it through the handles of the door as a makeshift padlock. Once that problem was taken cared of, the turtles refocused their attention back to the captured family, as they were forced to make their way towards the helicopter at the very top of the building. Before they could get to them, something else stopped them from reaching their goal.

It was giant and green, has multiple vines with thorns that, from what Leo could smell, are venomous. A praying mantis-like head, stands on two stem-like legs with large toes on its feet and seems to have exposed bone-like shapes. Tendrils that resemble Venus flytrap to most likely be its hands and arms, and an exposed heart that's partly wrapped within the green-skin located between the neck and the top of its chest. It let out an odd shriek that would mistaken him for a giant bat, which was followed by a hiss that sounded very similar to a snake.

"You did this to me! Now you're going to pay!" The voice was high and hissy when the plant-like creature spoke, which the deep-blue eye turtle immediately recognized as the slim-human.

"It's Snake! He mutated into a... Giant weed!" _'...Alright, something about what I just said sounded a bit off.'_

_You mean that the human got mutated into a plant, while he has antennae, pincers, and bulbous eyes that makes him look more like some sort of deformed insect?_

_'Well, that, and to the fact I made it sound like he's going to be hard to take on if he's now some sort of insect-plant mutant.'_

**_Best heed warning and distress, Pup; never underestimate preys or enemies, no matter how they may seem under Pup or be of no threat when on battlefield._**

"That's weird. You'd think he'd get mutated into a snake." Mikey stated, not really getting on how or why the human ended up as a weed mutant.

"Yeah, you would, if you were an idiot." Raph told his brother, thinking on why the orange-masked turtle would think someone would mutate into an animal they're named after if that certain animal isn't the last thing the person would touch before the Mutagen changes their appearance.

"But his name is Snake."

"So?"

"You don't understand science." Leonardo gave his brother an odd look at what he just said, while turning his attention back to newly-mutated Snake, who was finally able to free his feet from the ground.

_'What does science got to do with Snake being a mutant weed and not a mutant snake?!... Scratch that, why are you two even having this conversation when we're still in the middle of a fight?!'_

"I'll crush you turtles!"

"Uh, would it help if we said it was an accident?" Donnie asked the mutant weed in a nervous voice, not feeling very comfortable on fighting something or someone taller than school bus. To answer his question, Snake let out his two pincers out, snapping them together and ready to either grab or even attempt to rip flesh.

_'Does that answer your question, Don?' _The blue-masked turtle asked in thought, baring but clenching his teeth together at the large mutant, warning him that he wasn't going to back down or let Snake scare him because of his height. The purple-masked turtle backed away.

"So, heh, I'll put you down for a no?" Snake then leaned back a bit, holding back one of his pincers behind him, which let out an alarming ring in Leo's head.

**_Jump!_**

By his instincts command and when Snake brought down his pincers to whack the turtles aside, Leo leap over the pincer to dodge the attack, along with Donnie doing the same but narrowly getting hit by the extended pincer. Raph and Mikey weren't so lucky or able to dodge on time, and both were forced down to the ground, a little stunned and a bit bruised from the impact but nothing to serious to prevent them from fighting or defending. Crouched down to the ground when he landed, Leo sheathed Kamiizumi and now clenching on to Musashi with both hands, launched himself after the appendage that attacked his brother and brought the blade down to slice through flesh and plant.

Snake let out a shriek of pain when the turtle cut through his arm as if it were smooth butter, as purple-blood gushed out of the wound and splattered all over the ground.

"Eww! Eww!" Mikey cried, crawling away from the blood that would splash where he was just at. "Don't let it touch me! Don't let it touch me!" When he took one more crawl back, little bits of the blood landed on his leg. "Aah! It touched me!" Landing back to the ground, Leo flung his sword to the side to rid of the blood off of Musashi.

_'It's not like his blood is now some form of acid, Mikey, otherwise it would've left holes in the hard concrete ground or burn the skin off your flesh. It could've even be able to eat through the blade of Musashi and leave me with only the hilt of my sword, but my sword is still in full condition.'_

_Better not think that this fight's going to be easy. Look!_

As his conscience told him, the turtle turned his attention back to his opponent and saw that the appendage he just cut through has immediately grew back a new pincer, fascinating and astonishing the mutant-weed on seeing the gift that his mutation has bestowed upon him.

"It grew back? No fair!" Donnie cried out, now scared and panicking that they won't be able to bring Snake down when he can simply continue to regrow any of his limbs if they were to keep on cutting him down.

_'Huh, it actually makes a lot of sense, since weeds have the ability to regenerate when they're cut down. As long as the source of its root is still intact, then it'll keep on regrowing itself.' _His hearing then caught the sound of a chopper preparing itself to take to the sky, which happens to be the very helicopter that's holding the family.

**_Getting away! Pup must go after it!_**

_Wait! You can't leave your brothers to take on Snake on their own; none of their weapons are considered strong enough to take him down, even if Raph's Sais are designed to jab, Mikey were to use his Kusarigama and Don to use the hidden blade of his Naginata bō staff. You have to stay and fight!_

_'I know that!... I know who needs to go after the chopper.' _"Donnie! Go! Fastball Special!"

Leo quickly sheathed Musashi into its sheath and placed both his hands down, preparing himself to give his brother a quick lift up to the top of the building. Originally, he would've had Raph give their brother a lift, but he and Mikey were too busy keeping Snake occupied and with the chopper preparing itself to take off, there wouldn't be enough time for the two eldest turtles to switch places. So, after placing his bō underneath the strap over his shoulder, he took off after his brother and once he implanted his right-foot into the cupped hands of Leo, he was hurled in the air and found himself a staircase away from reaching the platform of the helicopter and immediately made haste.

While the genius turtle made it his duty to rescue the humans, the other three turtles went into cutting and bringing down Snake, which wasn't an easy job to do, considering that the limbs would instantly grow back and with him having four vines to be like extra sets of hands and arms, he's proving to be a real problem and challenge for the three turtles.

"Snakeweed is really powerful!" Mikey cried, after he and Leo helped Raph to his feet after being tossed aside by one of the vines Snake's pincers let out. He was lucky that the vines within the pincers didn't have any thorns at all and that Snake has been whacking the turtles aside instead of using the thorns to cause actual damage, otherwise they would've been poisoned and make the situation much worse if one of them were to have toxic pumping through their bodies.

"Snakeweed?" Raph questioned, thinking of the name to be one of the most ridiculous things he ever heard and made up from the orange-masked turtle.

"Yeah! His name was Snake, and now he's a weed, so-"

"We get it!" Raph interrupted, not feeling like arguing with their youngest-brother about renaming Snake when they're fighting for their lives. Leo, meanwhile stood in front of his brothers and kept his glare at the red-eyes of Snake, while trying to catch his breath a bit and to figure out how to defeat the mutant weed.

_You were right to feel distress and cautious about Snake's mutation._

_'Oh, you think?' _His vision blurred a bit, but he shook his head to rid away the dizziness he was feeling build up.

**_Hang in there, Pup. Can defeat mutant-weed; must find weak-spot and figure out a way to bring mutant-weed down that doesn't involve being able to regenerate._**

_'That's going to be hard to plan. As for the weak-spot, I think I may have found it.' _His eyes then stared at the beating-heart of Snake, partly wrapped within the skin but standing out wide and open for anybody to take a shot out of it. _'The only problem on attacking his weak-spot are the vines, but if Raph and Mikey were to keep him distracted for more than a few seconds, I can try to go in for the kill.'_ "We just have to hold it off until Donnie gets back." He informed his brothers, knowing that it may take the four of them to keep Snake busy and for one of them to go for his heart that may possibly be his weakness to permanently bring him down.

Unfortunately, the door that Raphael locked up by using a robot's arm to seal the handles with gave out and a bunch of the robots came running out, aiming their weapons at both the turtles and the mutant weed.

_'Oh, great, more problems to add in our problem.' _"While not getting shot by alien robots."

"With brains!" Mikey added, still trying to get his brothers to tell him that he was right.

"Let it go, man." Raph told the turtle, tired on having to be reminded that he and Don were wrong to criticize him when he told them his reason on why he didn't chase the van with the two turtles.

"Raph, you take care of Snake!" Leo ordered, unsheathing Kamiizumi to have it rejoin the battle with its brother, Musashi.

"It's Snakeweed now, Leo!" Mikey hollered out, bring out his Nunchakus and already whacking away some of the robots.

"I don't care what's he called now, Mikey! You help me deal with the Kraang that are shooting at us and let Raph try to take care of Snake, until I come up with a plan!"

_You sure are giving out a lot of orders, and on your very first mission on top of that, you notice?_

_'Not now! Later!' _Anger coursed through his heart, giving him the extra energy and strength to cut down the robots that try to shoot him or his brothers down, which was what his conscience had planned to do when it noticed how tired the turtle was starting to get the longer they continued on to fight. And to prove a point, Snake brought out one of his pincers and whacked everybody off of their feet, including the fleet footed Leonardo. _'Damn it! I don't know how much more we can take of this and with Donnie still dealing with the Kraang in the helicopter, we're in way over our heads.'_ He struggled to get himself off the ground, as he retightened his grip on Musashi and Kamiizumi._ 'I was afraid my warning to Master Splinter was going to come true, that our blood will be spilled under my leadership... At this rate, I'm gonna have to order my brothers to head back to the Lair and to turn this into a suicide mission.'_

"What's the plan again, Chief?" Raph questioned his brother, also picking himself off the ground.

Before Leo could answer, a vine came up from behind him and the moment it wrapped itself around his right-ankle, it lifted the turtle off the ground and held him out in front of Snake, who tried to figure out on how he should dispose of the turtle who was the first to injure him while swinging him around in the air. While still hanging upside down, Leo heard the sound of continuous buzzing and, when he turned his head towards the direction of the sound, he saw multiple tubes of the power conduit that Donnie stated to lead for something important, which leads to a some sort of high-tech power generator.

_'If I can get Snake to that power generator and have the Kraang rupture it with their weapons...'_

**_It may be key on how to bring down mutant-weed._**

_But how are you going to get him to that power generator and keep him there long enough for the Kraang to rupture it?_

_'It's simple... By doing a suicide mission.' _"Raph! Mikey! **Senaka mawari iku!**" Getting a firm nod from both turtles, though not truly knowing what their leader is planning on doing, they both charged at Snake and attacked his legs after getting behind him, distracting him long enough to allow Leo to cut at the vine that trapped him upside down and have himself back on solid ground. He then turned his attention back to the Kraang, who were all getting back to their feet and collecting their weapon, which gave him a quick-thinking addition to his suicidal plan. **"Sono hatsudenki ni sunēku o eru ni sorera o najiru** (Taunt them into getting Snake to that power generator!)**!"**

"What?!" Raph hollered out, not liking to where his brother was planning on doing.

**"Chōdo sore o okonau** (Just do it)**!" **Leo yelled out, sheathing his two swords away and pulling out his own Tegaki and cutting into the back of Snake's left-leg to distract him while his brothers taunt Kraang into aiming their weapons at the mutant weed and forcing Snake to back up against the power generator.

_This is nuts! You'll get yourself killed if you don't get out of the way in time from the blast!_

_'That's why it's called a "suicide mission" and don't worry, I have no intention on dying.' _He thought to himself, ducking behind the giant weed mutant to avoid the blast until Snake was close enough for Leo to make his mark, which he did by bringing down his Tegaki and digging straight down sideways on Snake's back. He then clenched his left-hand into a fist and brought it out towards Snake when the mutant turned to see who it was that dared to attack from behind, landing a perfect punch at the barely protected heart.

Snake let out a hissing-shriek from the harsh impact to his heart, kneeling and hitting his head on the power generator when Leo jump on top of his head and stood on his large back. He then brought out his two remaining shuriken and tossed them towards two heads at two random robots in order re-taunt the remaining Kraang into shooting at the turtle and the power generator. The sound of sparks building up was the only signal to have the blue-masked turtle to jump off of Snake and rejoin his three brothers, along with the human girl Donatello was able to rescue, to watch electricity coursing through Snake's body for a full four-seconds before it caused him and the power generator to explode. Parts and remains of Snake rain down over the battlefield, bringing a major relief for three of the turtles and to the human girl that the fight was over. However, Leonardo knew that now wasn't the time to celebrate.

Putting away his Tegaki and waving his hand to signal the others to follow him, they silently and quickly left the building and made a run back to the city, knowing that their mission is finished but isn't a complete success.

* * *

**Back in the City; April's Aunt House...**  
"Are you gonna be all right?" Donatello asked the human girl, who has introduced herself to the rest of the turtles as April O'Neil.

"I guess," she solemnly answered. "My aunt says I can stay here as long as I want, but I'll be a lot better when I track down the creeps that took my dad." Leonardo, who sat above the balcony of April's bedroom window, stared down at the girl with sorrow he felt for her suffering, then turned back to stare at the city and the stars above them.

_Poor girl... She shouldn't have to go through all of this._

_'Agreed; she is pure and innocent, like Mikey. She committed no such sin that would have her lose her parent by aliens.'_

**_She-Pup April seeks vengeance of Kraang for taking her father away from her. Shall be best if Omega-Brothers, Beta-Brother and Pup help She-Pup April find and rescue her father, before She-Pup April gets over head._**

Leo cocked his head to the side, confused on what his instinct just dubbed April as.

_'"She-Pup April"? Why give her title as if she's Pack?'_

**_She-Pup April now involved in war Pup and Pack shall soon be fighting in, meaning She-Pup will be human-ally and soon, sister-in-arms. Pup's fight now She-Pup's fight, least until Pup and Pack brings back her father._**

The blue-masked turtle let out a low growl, preventing on having to catch the other turtle's attention.

_'Whoever said that she's actually going to be our friend, let alone a new member into our Clan? Our Pack? She may be innocent and pure, but she has not earned my trust or approval to make her part of the family. It's because of her that Donnie nearly cost us the mission while rescuing her and her father, even if she doesn't know or mean to be a distraction to Don.'_ He then closed his eyes and lifted his head towards the sky, inhaling the peaceful breeze of the wind brushing against his forest-green skin, beckoning him to run beside her gentle breeze and to sing with the wind._ 'Besides, we better things to deal with: Taking care of the Kraang, and gaining my freedom.'_

_It should be best to hold your plans on gaining your freedom; not only do you have Kraang to take care of and to help April rescue her father, but you have a role and a duty that Father placed upon you._

He nearly scoffed from the reminder of him being placed as leader of the team.

_'And who said that I'll actually continue on with this burden Sensei forced me to take? Once I get my freedom, the Role of Leadership shall go to Raph and he can lead the team however he wants to lead them. I have no part into his wishes and I wish to not be any part of it.'_

"April, I promise you we will not rest until we find him." Donnie assured the redhead, earning not noticing a glare from the eldest turtle.

_'Foolish brother of mine. Still trying to win her heart, even when you should know that your chances with her is nonexistent.'_

"We won't?" Raph said, wondering who signed him up to join the 'Help April Out' Community without his say into the matter.

_'Despite her not gaining my trust to be considered pack-mate, we may need to start gaining human allies if we're to live both in the city and the sewers.' _"No, we won't." He told his brother, now earning the gaze of the four teens below him. Casting a glare at his younger-brother and silently daring him to go back against his word, the hothead turtle kept his mouth shut, meaning that he has agreed with the decision on helping their new human-friend with her problem. April smiled gently up at the blue-masked turtle who has finally spoke for the first time within her presence.

"Thank you, but it's not your fight." She told the turtles, not wanting them to get themselves hurt or in trouble because of her, like the eldest-turtle had narrowly escaped the blast of the power generator and barely made it out with his life.

"Yes, it is." A silence followed after Donnie's sentence and with a stuttering heartbeat following suit, Leo smirked when he figured Donnie did something that made the girl smile and is thinking that he may have a shot with her after all.

_'That's one thing Don's right about: The moment the Kraang made us to be as we are, it has became our fight.'_

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I think it's high time we head back to the Lair; I'm tired as Hell and going to be sore in the morning." Raph announced to his brothers, stretching his back and causing some of his bones to crack in the process of stretching.

"I'm with you on that, bro, but can we stop for some Pis-zaw before heading back home?" Mikey asked, climbing right behind Raph to get to the roof of April's aunt house.

"'Pis-zaw'?... Does he mean 'pizza'?" April asked Don, who got over his embarrassment when the subject got changed.

"That's what you humans call that human food by? Huh, sounds a lot better and more appetizing than the way Mikey pronounced it." Don then stared up at his older-brother, who didn't look as though he was getting off of his sitting spot at any moment or realize that they're already leaving the apartment for the Lair. "Uh, Leo, aren't you coming? We're heading back to the Lair." Leonardo's eyes narrowed from his brother's question, knowing that if he doesn't go back to the Lair with them, then they'll either stay with him however long he stays up on the surface until he does return their home or drag him back to the Lair and will once again be shadowed by his brothers and Splinter all over again.

_You know that as long as the Kraang are out there, your freedom will be over in just a snap and you'll end up hunted down or captured by those aliens... You know that you have to stay with the Clan, to keep them safe and close by in order to protect them from the Kraang._

**_...Pup, as much as it pains self to put hold on dream for freedom, Pup must stay with Pack. Once danger and threat to Pack deceased, Pup's choice for freedom will be set and ready to leave Pack. For now, remain with Pack, with Omega-Brothers and Beta-Brothers, with Alpha, as Alpha-Beta of Hamato Clan._**

Leo knew that they were right, but even with his knowledge of understanding wasn't enough to make the stabbing pain in his heart any less painful than it already was in. He was very grateful that it was still dark, because he knew that if Don or any of his brothers or even the human-girl were to see him clenching on to the strap over his plastron, they would know that something is wrong with him and could be from an injury they will think he sustained from their fight with the Kraang and Snake.

"Leo? Can you hear me?" Digging his nails into the hard-leather material of the strap, Leo turned to meet the gaze of his genius brother, who's brownish-red eyes held worry and concern over the silence his big brother process. "Are you okay? You're not badly wounded, are you?" The blue-masked turtle let out a tiring sigh, closing his eyes and concentrating on bottling up the pain his heart had to just go through from being forced to temporarily give up the chance for freedom it has craved for so long.

_'If I must hold off my chance to freedom, for the sake of my Pack and their safety, then I shall not leave them.' _"No, Don, I'm fine." He replied back, sounding completely normal and nonchalant to the four teens. He then got to his feet, staring out towards the tall building in the direction where he knew the nearest manhole shall be. "It's been a long night... Let's all head back home and get some well-earned rest."

Earning some nods from his brothers, the turtle made their way up to the highest point of April's aunt house's rooftop and silently made their way towards the alley that has a manhole-cover that'll lead them to the sewers. Before joining Raph and Mikey to the alley, Don turned back to stare at April and give her a friendly wave, knowing that it wasn't really goodbye and that the girl will be visiting them at the Lair very soon. Staying behind and remaining still on the rooftop to be ensure all three of his brothers went into the sewer after the manhole-cover has been removed, Leo gazed up to the night-sky one last time for the near ending-point of the nighttime, seeing that some of the stars had already left their post and at the far horizon saw some lighter color seeping through behind the dark-sky.

_'Rest in peace, dark day of the sleeping sun, for even an ending must rest to begin anew*.'_

"Wait!" April's voice prevented the blue-masked turtle from jumping off of her aunt's rooftop to rejoin his brothers within the sewers and to have him turn his head to stare into her sky-blue eyes. "I haven't gotten a chance to thank you for stopping one of the aliens in the robot bodies from grabbing me, when we first met." Leo's eyes narrowed in confusion, not sure on how he should feel from the gratitude he received from the human.

_'Why does she thank me, when I wasn't the one that chose to rescue her and her father, and that we didn't succeeded on stopping the Kraang from taking them away?'_

**_Humans are very strange creatures._**

_'Indeed, they are... Shouldn't I have some sort of human instinct-like, considering that I'm part-human? My brothers appear to have that and somehow know how to interact with April.'_

_Perhaps it's because of you being a humanoid-wolf/turtle that prevents you from knowing or understanding how to interact with others, while your brothers are humanoid-turtles and Father is a humanoid-rat._

_'That's probably it, though it never hurts to be too cautious on who we meet if they're really going to be our friend or enemy.'_ He then turned his gaze away from her. "You shouldn't thank me." His sentence confused the girl. "It's Donatello who you should be thanking, since he was the one who dragged us into the fight on rescuing you and your father, despite the fact that we failed to do so."

_Must you really push her away? Just as you stated from her, she's pure and innocent. If your brothers can trust her to keep your secret and existence from the other humans, then that should be proof enough that she can be trusted to be your friend._

_'Doesn't matter if she appears to be trustworthy or not; I'm not like my brothers and have my own reason to not immediately accept her as our friend or ally... At least, not until she pass my test. If she passes, then I shall welcome her as a friend and will accept her as a newly-found sister of the Pack._

_And if she doesn't pass the test?_

_'Should she fail my test, I'll keep my distance away from her and remain silence anywhere near her presence.'_

**_No doubt Omega-Brothers and Beta-Brother will be very disproval of Pup for rejecting She-Pup if She-Pup April fails test, but know that what Pup do is for right cause... Something different and odd about She-Pup._**

_'That, I agree to, which is also a reason to why she'll be given a test to see if she truly does earn my trust or not. For now, it should be best to head back for the Lair, before the Pack goes in a frenzy panic.' _He then turned to stare at the girl one last time, who seemed ready to jump back into the house and go to bed if he doesn't have any more to say to her. "Take care of yourself, April, and believe into the hope that your father will be returned to you." She stared back at him with stunned eyes, stopping herself from closing the windows when she stepped back into the house, looking more comforted and a bit more hopeful than she previously was, when hearing one of her new-found friend giving her words that she obviously needed to hear.

"Will I be seeing you guys, again?" As her answer, he gave her a friendly smirk.

_'As if Don will make this be the very last time we'll ever see her again.' _"That depends on what you want the answer to be." Giving her a farewell nod, a gesture that also seems to tell the redhead that they would be happy to see her again or that they're alright with her wanting to see them soon, he launched himself off the building and made his way to the sewer, placing the manhole cover back to its spot to prevent any other humans from falling into the sewers by accident.

* * *

**Back to the Lair; Dojo...  
**"I am impressed, Leonardo. You proved to be an effective leader under the most difficult of circumstances." Splinter praised his eldest son, after the turtle has given him the report on how their mission went and his brothers were able to work together when in battle. Though he felt like he didn't deserve to gain his sensei's praise or approval, since their mission wasn't a complete success on account that April's father is still in the hands of the Kraang, and the anger in his heart still burns with the hate on having to still be called leader, Leo has to accept the compliment his sensei has given to him.

**"Arigato** (Thank you), Sensei." He thanked, bowing to the humanoid-rat in another way to show his thanks, even if he doesn't really mean it. Silenced came by after his words, with the turtle staying still in his spot to await for his sensei to give him his permission to leave the Dojo and allow him to head for his room for some sleep, and the humanoid-rat wanting to have a few more moments of a conversation with his eldest-child. Then, a question quickly came to his mind on what they should also talk about.

"Have you already figured out on why I made you leader, my son?"

Leo remained bowing on the floor, shielding the grimace that came to his tired face when the question prevented him from asking the humanoid-rat if he can leave to get some sleep. In a situation where he wants to leave and be on his own, he would come up with a perfect lie and then do his own ninja vanish to make his escape the very second the person who has their eyes on them gets turned away. However, he knew that the ninja master won't let him drop or avoid the question that easily. Besides, he made a promise in his own code as a wolf that he shall not lie to a question that's of upmost importance to his father and Pack, as long as the subject isn't about his behavior and of them starting to figure out about his secret of being a humanoid-wolf/turtle and not a humanoid-turtle.

_'Looks like I'm gonna have to pull a Splinter on him... I hope he enjoys the feeling of the answer like he would always give to us.' _**"Hai... Soshite, iya** (Yes... And no)**."** He answered honestly, gaining a surprised look on Splinter that the child has answered with one of his own response he would use on all four of his sons.

"Will you please explain to me about your answer, Leonardo?" The turtle firmly nod his head once, brushing his forehead onto the Tatami mat as he still bowed to show his submission to his sensei, before he lifted himself off the floor but kept his head lowered. Too bad for the turtle that Splinter wouldn't allow him to continue on talking when they aren't meeting eye-to-eye, for he then felt a clawed-hand going under his chin and forcing his head up to meet reddish-brown eyes of Hamato Yoshi. "Look me in the eyes and explain to me on why you chose that answer, Leonardo."

Another thing Leo would've done, is he would give a warning growl to the person getting too close in his personal space, but he knows better than to threaten a warning to his sensei, his _Alpha_, when he, himself, doesn't know of his son not being as the rat believes him to be. The moment the hand on his chin removed themselves and allowed himself to take a deep breath, the turtle spoke.

"As leader, I leant that there is no right or wrong, only choices." His gaze gotten a bit hard, but he quickly pushed it aside before his sensei could get the chance to see the anger he holds within his heart. "With that being said, you could've picked any one of us four to be the leader... Well, picking Mikey would've been an obvious wrong choice, but you would've still had a choice to choose either Don or Raph to be leader. Instead, you chose me to lead, because it was your choice to pick me, not because you sensed something inside of me that made you confident enough that your choice was right... What I don't get is why you didn't choose Don or Raph and picked me, when I didn't ask or say why I should be leader?" _'Though, my obvious hunches are: Because I didn't speak on why I should be leader, I'm more experienced than my brothers and would be able to handle the role and responsibility of leadership than they can... And the most possible and obvious reason of all, is to prevent me from leaving home and being on my own, when I'll have three followers always by my side and keeping a close eye on me just in case I pull a fast one on them.'_

**"Naruhodo...** (I see...)**"** Splinter got to his feet and stared up at the might tree behind his son, giving the turtle the opportunity to turn his gaze away from the humanoid-rat and to get to his feet when they began to go numb and fall asleep. "And do you wish to know the answer on why I picked you as leader?"

It was an open invitation, a permission offer, for the turtle if he wanted to know his sensei's reason for giving him such a burden to hold on his shoulder. It sounded very tempting for the turtle to gain such an invite to hear Splinter's reason, without feeling he was digging into his father's business that the rat didn't want his sons to know or pest him about, but the fifteen year-old had a feeling whatever his reason is would not be the answer he wanted to here and a stronger possibly to be a lie in order to hide the truth.

_'I'm sorry, Sensei, but no matter how many times you would ask me to trust you or believe your words, you'd give me reason to doubt... Forgive me, or hate me for doing this.' _"Another honest answer, Sensei... I don't. I mean, yes, I do want to know, but you have your own reason to pick me as leader and I wish to not hear your reason that would have you force me to take up a role that I never wanted to gain." He then turned and slowly made his direction towards the shōji, ignoring the stunned gaze he felt from his father but stopping himself when he placed a hand on the side where he would pull off to the side in order to open the door. "Maybe one day, when I'm ready to hear, I'll listen to your reason. But for now, Sensei, the truth should stay hidden and sealed."

_"Everybody! Come here! We made the news!" _Michelangelo's voice let out a holler of excitement, pulling both father and son from their conversation and both making their way to the living room to see what the youngest-turtle was talking about.

**"A report of, get this, _ninjas_ in New York."** The reporter said to his viewing audience, with a small image of a miniature New York City in a big apple, with a human dressed as a ninja in front of most of the city-image. **"Don't believe me? After residents reported a disturbance, the police recovered this."** The image quickly changed into what scared and startled the blue-masked turtle: A shuriken-star, with Splinter's clan-symbol on it. While Don and Mikey looked excited that their clan's mark is live on television, Leo knows it can mean trouble if it's going to be played all over the world.

_'That can't be possible! I grabbed the shuriken that I threw to Snake's van and left it back in my room before making the plan on getting to the Kraang building! How is it possible for them to find...?! Unless, that isn't my shuriken.'_

**_Must be either Omega-Brother Donatello or Omega-Brother Michelangelo's shuriken that either dropped or left behind, probably while Pup and Beta-Brother Raphael decided to split up on finding Slim-human Snake after Omega-Brother Michelangelo let human get away._**

_'Argh! Should've known their carelessness would eventually catch up to them and end up like this!'_

**"For channel six news, this is Carlos Chang O'Brien Gambe saying, 'Hi-ya!'"** With the ending of the news now playing on the screen, Leo turned his glare to his two youngest-brothers, knowing that they're to be blamed for their family's trademark to posted all over the news.

"This is awesome! We're gonna be famous!" Mikey cried, putting on his overexcitement smile on his face and having a hard time to calm down.

"You must be more careful." Splinter told his children, though he didn't seem that concerned about his clan's symbol and shuriken being shown on television. "The ninja's most powerful weapon is the shadows. Being brought out into the light is a dangerous thing."

"Relax, Sensei." Raphael told their father, being too confident and seemed alright that one of their weapon has gained the human's attention of their still hidden life. "It's one little news story. What's the worst that can happen?"

Deep within the pit of his stomach, the depths of his soul and feeling of his heart, Leonardo sensed that his brother's last comment is going to bring misfortune to them and their answer to the price that'll change theirs and the citizens of New York City's life.

_'It's that feeling,' _he thought to himself. _'Something bad is going to happen and, judging from how my stomach feels like I just swallowed a bag full of stones, the dark-hand grasping ahold of my soul and my heart quivering a few beats as if I'm having Heart Palpitations, it's going to be a very bad one.'_

_Aren't you going to warn and tell Father about this?_

_'Every time I tell him or the guys that something bad is going to happen or something isn't right, they don't take my words seriously and would end up almost getting themselves hurt or nearly killed if I wasn't there to help out. So, for the answer, no. Besides, the lack of sleep is preventing me from figuring out what the danger or warning is about.'_

**_Rest important. Body must regain much energy it get for any wounds or aches Pup gained to heal properly. Figure out warning signs when fully-rested. For now, head for own turf and rest in sleep-spot._**

Silently letting out a yawn and not to disturb his family's happy mood on tonight's event, the blue-masked turtle quietly and slowly made his way to his bedroom, not feeling or bothering to inform the rest of his family of his departure for the night. The calling for sleep grew stronger with each step that brings him closer to the door and when he gained access to his room, the headache that has build up within his mind instantly vanished and his feet nearly gave out from the sudden feeling of warmth that chased away the confinement of his new burden he has to carry. Smiling softly of the sight of his only safe haven he has within his home and, after a quick locking of his door and placing both Musashi and Kamiizumi in their spots beside the door, the humanoid-wolf/turtle took the final three steps to his bed and removed his bandana from his face, placing the mask on his small-dresser with his sketchbook and journal.

In mere seconds, the mask-less turtle is in his bed, covered with a dark-blue blanket to shield him from the cold-air of the near-ending Winter and now in the Land of Dreams, the only place where he can dream of gaining his freedom and finding a place where he's truly accepted within his paradise.

**TBC**

* * *

And, once again, Google Translate didn't help me with translating english to japanese and how I want it to be, that I'm not even sure if it's right or not. Also, they never really say what the mutagen's true color is, since they seem to switch the colors from a green to a blue or have them in a mixed color.

*: I actually made that up. No joke... I suck at it, don't I?

Another thing, I can't tell what the Hamato Clan symbol is. I always thought it was some sort of flower (Like some sort of Lotus Flower or Sakura [Cherry Blossom]), but after a closer look, I can't tell what it is.

R&amp;R


	5. Mercy From the Lone Wolf, Warrior

**April 23rd, 2012  
**_Seven weeks came and gone with the Hand of Time and ever since we came up to the surface on that very day of our Mutation Day... Let's just said it was full of surprises, a bunch of bumps in the road and the feeling of the dark presence is coming upon us, closer and closer with each passing day:_

_The week after we've rescued April from the Kraang, we were out on patrol and got sighted by a human, thanks to Raph or Mikey for knocking over his satellite, Raph's temper and wanting to make Mikey squeal for mercy after pestering him. When the police had reported him missing on the news about some complaining of another disturbance, we learned that his real name was Vic. When we first met him, he was overweight, wore a white-tank top like Snake but only bigger, blue-pants and his head is partly coverd in gray-hair. If anything else to add about the human, not the friendly-type, seems to be old, about somewhere in his forties, and for some odd reason keeps on referring to us as "Frogs" or "Kung Fu Frogs". We were also sort of at his mercy when he caught us on his phone, while we were fighting some Kraang that Donnie gotten intel from April was going to break into a lab across Vic's apartment. The human was very greedy, wanting a million dollars in exchange for the video he recorded of us fighting._

_Fortunately, or unfortunately, the Kraang took him away and held him hostage, which we had gone to rescue him, even if he wasn't grateful and blown our cover for wanting his phone back. __I sent Raph back to the Lair after his anger issue gotten the best of him over the importance of the mission, again, knowing that Master Splinter must give him a lesson about controlling his anger and what happens when you let anger consume you. If only he'd came sooner, because by the time he came to help us out, Vic had already been mutated into a giant spider, who Mikey renamed him "Spider Bytez". Now as a mutant spider, he's round and black, red-markings with orange-outlines, six eyes on his face and some between his legs, sharp fangs, four spider legs on his head and, at a perfect view to go along with his new appearance, his claws and appendages are filled with mutagen. He also has strong webbing filament and gained the ability to spit __highly corrosive acid from his mouth__. Raph was able to defeat Vic, but he was able to escape and we knew it wouldn't be the last time we would see of him. Raph also learned how to control his anger and to not let the foul words of our enemies get to him, but that didn't mean he'll stop __pummeling Mikey when being mocked or pranked..._

_I'm just glad that I didn't have to take the heat for Raph when Sensei was lecturing us on how we first got caught on Vic's recording on his phone, which was a huge relief for me and no more added stress to my mind or heart. In fact, Splinter yelled and scolded Raph when my brother told him on why he jeopardized our mission and, to make Raph even more insulted, he had me, Don and Mikey shoot dart-arrows at him while coming up with insults to distract him from blocking the arrows. Of course, I simply stayed quiet and whenever Don or Mikey came up with an insult, I swiftly fired away and placed my marks on his shell, mostly to the spots and places where an enemy could strike and injure him by going for the location of the organs, if the enemy has a weapon that allows them to cut through the shell, that is._

_Four and a half weeks later, we had another human mutation problem on our hands, only his mutation was purposely done by a fellow colleague who wanted to get a neurologic mutagen from him in order to give himself psychic abilities. Dr. Tyler Rockwell, who was reported missing by his colleague, Dr. Victor Falco, had been mutated into a humanoid-monkey, with the psychic ability to read emotions and sense a person's intentions that gives him a distinct advantage in evasion and combat. Despite him being dangerous and a threat when fighting him, he would make a great ally when calmed and as long we don't pose a threat to him and have no negative thoughts for him to read, he won't snap or go __berserk.__  
_

_April believes that his capture could be linked to the Kraang and her father being captured, but it turned out there wasn't any connection at all, except for a new canister of Mutagen Dr. Falco kept within his lab. It took us awhile to track Rockwell down but we were finally able to stop him. While my brothers chose to attack him without much of a thought but to attack and hurt him, April and I thought calmly and showed no sign of a threat to harm him, which we were spared from being hurt and to figure out what really happened to Dr. Rockwell after a quick look in his eyes and a few sniff at his scent that held both human and monkey in the mixture... Mostly, that I understood what he was saying, thanks to me being part-wolf on communicating and understanding other animals._

_He kept on saying: _**_"Pain... Anger... Hurt... Traitor... Falco... Held captive... Forced into... Want power... Power hungry..."_**

_Anyway, Donnie learnt that _If he think too much about what is coming, he'll lose sight of what is and that he must be fully in the moment so he can fight without thinking. He also learnt that he_ must find the spaces between his thoughts and learn to live there.__ He sure learned the hard way to never always rely on what he believes his opponent will do, like when Sensei told him to defend himself against Seoi Nage and attacked him with a different kata. It was thanks to his lesson, that he was able to defeat Dr. Falco and we were able to free Dr. Rockwell from his clutches, though Dr. Falco escaped before April could ask him if he knew anything about the Kraang and about her father. Sadly, Don's attempts to get April to like him and trying to act cool isn't going unnoticed and doesn't appear to gain any interest from the girl at all. He must learn that even his Master-plan/chart won't be able to help him get her to like him or win her heart, which I can tell she was a little annoyed by it and simply sees Don as a brother, nothing more or less. As for one more experience he learn on that day, was being humiliated and insulted by Raph and Mikey when they made fun of him for being beaten up by a monkey and in front of his 'girlfriend', while April and I tend to his wounds._

_I'm happy to not hear Mikey coming up with a different name for Tyler Rockwell as he's now a humanoid-monkey or Victor Falco for being a psychic enemy, but that didn't mean he hasn't come up with a new name for somebody; now, whenever he does a flip or keeps on doing a flip, he calls himself "_Dr_. _Flippinstein" to simply annoy us and cause another headache to build up into a migraine.__

_If facing two mutants shouldn't consider to be difficult or challenging, then how about two human incident, that one has been trained by Sensei's greatest enemy and the other merged with alien-technology of the Kraang, and a Kraang situation that used one of Don's weapons against us?  
_

_The human that was trained by the Shredder turned out to be Chris Bradford, a martial arts master and a world-famous celebrity that Mikey has always adored. On the magazines Mikey would collect within the sewers, he was tall and muscular and with a dark brown beard, which to me resembles to an actor, Chuck Norris. Thinking that he could make friends with a human on his own and after friending him online and having Bradford friending him back, he went up to the surface and revealed himself to the human. While they 'bonded', Bradford tried to get Mikey to talk about us and could also be hinting on wondering our whereabouts. As a show of trust, which I believe he was trying to pull in order to get Mikey to trust him, he showed and taught Mikey, who then showed us how to perform it, how to do one of his secret Kata: **The Death Dragon**, a move that Oroku Saki used against Splinter back in Japan. I never showed any liking when Mikey showed it and after informing Sensei about and even showing him what Mikey did in the Kata, Sensei immediately knew Chris Bradford is our enemy._

_We were lucky to get Mikey out of there and lure them into a trap within a different parts of the sewers, far from the Lair, and sweep them away by a very powerful stream of sewer water. Our baby brother was hurt and felt betrayed when Bradford used him to get to Master Splinter and us, but he eventually got over it and gotten his own way of revenge by no longer being friends with Chris Bradford online. I was __frustrated that the Foot Clan ninjas don't fight fair, but knew that fighting fair isn't how ninjas win their battles; when I was thinking of ninjas to fight fair, I was actually thinking about samurais fighting fairly, which is what _Bushidō is: The Samurais way of life... Yes, I'm not just a ninja, but I'm also a Samurai and the__ **_only_**_ samurai in the Hamato Clan. While samurai sticks to a code of honor, ninjas are spies and assassin, with their code being getting the job done, even if it means playing dirty and unfairly to your opponents. Fortunately for me, I already knew that lesson and surprised my brothers when I told them of the only we would be able to defeat them._

_The second human we faced goes by the name Baxter Stockman, which for some strange reason my brothers keep on getting his name wrong, and I had to once again take the wrath for my brothers. My three idiot brothers decided to get themselves grounded by skateboarding in the Lair, when they know that we weren't allow to do so and didn't need Sensei to tell us that. While I went into cleaning up the garbage my brothers left lying around all over the floor, Mikey decided to vault himself over Don and Raph on his skateboard from the poorly made ramp he created on his own. Splinter's voice startled Raph and Don to stand from their spots and cause Mikey to crash into them, while I stayed quiet and continued on sweeping the floor to get some empty soda-cans and pizza-crusts into a pile with the rest of the garbage I swept up. __I was able to avoid getting punished, since I wasn't involved in their activity and was cleaning up the Lair, while the rest of the guys were grounded from patrol for an entire week..._

_For the first time being on my own was one of the greatest things to ever experience, but it immediately grew short when my brothers decided to disobey Sensei's orders and follow me around while on their skateboards. That was when we found Baxter Stockman trying to break in to a building that was the T.C.R.I. building and, without thinking or waiting for a command, my three brothers took him down under a minute and slammed him into a dumpster when the building's alarm alerted the police. By the next day, he was caught on the news and attacking people at T.C.R.I, wearing a much tougher and stronger sort of suit that was many times different than his last one. Turns out during the fight, Mikey dropped the T-Pod that Donnie made while he was scrounging in a military junk yard and Stockman was able to equip it to his armor to make himself unstoppable. I told them that it would best to tell Sensei what has happened, while the rest of the guys suggested that we can easily get the T-Pod from Stockman and Master Splinter wouldn't know about it. Know which idea would've been better to do? Mine._

_His suit was too powerful for us to take down and we ended up being tossed into the dumpster, like my brothers did to him. His suit then merged with him once more, to become a single enormously powerful entity. Lucky for us, Mikey tossed three boxes of pizzas into his face and give us enough time to silently go through a manhole-cover and back to the Lair. However, Sensei was up by the time we got back and knowing that we can no longer hide the truth, I told what has happen and that's when I took the wrath for my brothers by stating I failed to do my part as leader and should've tried to send them home instead of letting them to go off into battle and beat up Stockman when they left the Lair that they weren't supposed to. We then learned that the only way to take down Stockman was to not fight the armor, but to fight the man inside._

_With help from some chains and a beehive, we destroyed the T-Pod and brought Stockman down, which Raph then decided to make the fight a tie by throwing him into a dumpster, again. And, as always whenever he felt like our opponents needed a name, Mikey had given him the name "Stockman-Pod". Sensei had decided to unground my brothers after hearing out success, right before he decided to have them do Randori. I, myself, was spared from any other sort of punishment, but the punishment that I believe to have been given would be my alone time above the surface has been cut short too soon._

_Now, for the Kraang incident: The situation started out when Don felt like he's more useless on the team and that his weapon was worthless after our fifth encounter with the Kraang and it brakes, for the fifth time, so he decided to build a robot-turtle, which he reversed engineered it from the Kraandroid he brought home with us, that'll take his place on the battlefield while he remains behind in the Lair, which Mikey has named it "Metalhead". During that time, April decides to show her moxie and investigate at a Kraang hideout, where she learned they were going to poison the city's water supply with the unstable Mutagen in a way on hoping to perfect the Mutagen and mutating the humans. She almost got caught but thanks to her quick thinking, she was able to take down a Kraang and make it back to the Lair, without getting caught or sustaining any sort of injury._

_Don's creation may be strong and have a very powerful defense, but it lacks stealth, speed and makes too much noise. What's __worse? Because it's still part of a Kraandroid, a Kraang was able to take control of Don's creation and use it against us. We were lucky that Don finally came to join the party and was able to both hold off and destroy his creation. Not only that and it may be hard to believe, but if he hadn't created Metalhead, then he wouldn't had been able to destroy the Mutagen and save millions of lives of New York City. And he even did it with a six foot stick, which Raph still likes to call Don's Naginata Bō staff by._

_Mikey and Raph learned that whatever Don makes something that'll help him or us in battle, never try to destroy it, because they've just learned how powerful his inventions really are when they tried to first break his creation. I, on the other hand, had chose to stay away from it and simply glare at it, knowing that it would cause some problems and for the fact it's part of a creation made by the very creatures that turned me into what I'd become..._

_Boy, with all that we've been doing for the past seven weeks, who knows what else we'll soon be facing? And having to be in many fights and training sessions, with extra-training to add up on my 'Things to do' List in my life and my brothers continuing on making noise inside the Lair or wanting to go up to the surface every night, I'm losing a lot of sleep and would get no more than two or three hours of sleep. My eating habit, it's about the same or a bit more of skipping more meals than I normally do and my purging has been increasing with everyone pressuring me or forcing me to eat more now that we have human-food and not Worms and Algae. Most of our meals will be pizza, courtesy of my pizza-loving brothers and their human-friend, April O'Neil. The rest of our meals, no longer Algae and Worms, which was a major relief to me, our homemade cooking from Mikey, with some help and assistants from April... And myself, when she dragged the both of us to learn how to prepare homemade meals, instead of always ordering pizza twenty-four/seven._

_Now for the biggest part of my progress and situation: For the passed seven weeks on being leader of the team and going to go through with it for many more time to come, it's been draining me a lot lately. My body feels like I'm carrying heavy weights on my shell, and my limbs felt like they're dragging balls and chains. My headaches haven't been going away and seems to be building up much more than usual, no matter how much Tylenol or sleep pills _I would take. It's taking every strength of my Will to not snap or severely punish my brothers when they go against my orders or complaining over something, whether we're on a mission, out patrolling or even in the Lair, and I'm just about reaching my breaking point to snapping at any moment. Heck, even my senses are nearing their limits and our being overwhelmed by the surface above the Lair.__

_I know that if I go to Sensei about this and ask him on what I should do, he'll merely tell me that given time, I'll gain the patience and knowledge on how to deal with the pressure and how to keep my emotions intact. I knew that I can't go to Sensei about it, so on the nights we don't go up to the surface but everyone is still up or going to bed, I'd head for the furthest parts of the sewers, without alerting anybody or having them stalk me as if I were some wanted criminal, and let out my negative emotions by throwing objects to break them, pounding into the walls or letting out screams in the air until my voice gives out. It may not be the best way to get my anger out, but it's way better than how the humans would take it out on themselves by doing drugs that harms their body and health or even going as far as to self-inflicted and contemplating suicide._

_In other news, I haven't seen "**Space** **Heroes**" for a good while and, honestly, I'm no longer having any interest on watching it anymore. I'm now bored with the show and now prefer to watch shows that talks about animals or how to prepare certain meals that 'families' will love to eat, just in case Mikey won't be able to make food if he's hurt or ill and to prevent Raph and Don on destroying the kitchen if they try to cook. However, just in case my brothers were to get a bit worried that something's wrong with me, I'll force myself to watch an episode or two, at least one day a week, of "**Space Heroes**" before going off to bed. I thought that Raph would be relieved to know I no longer have any interest of the show, but he was giving me a worried glance one night when we returned home from another evening night of patrolling and then asked me if I was getting sick, because I haven't watched a single "**Space Heroes**" show in over two weeks. So, to avoid giving my brothers any more worry than they already are, I got stuck into watching the show and Raph went back into teasing me on acting like Captain Ryan._

* * *

"Leo, are you done with whatever you're doing in there?!" Michelangelo's voice cried out from behind the locked door, forcing the turtle to cease his writing into his journal and to focus his attention on his brother to what he has to say. "We're all ready to go and April won't take us out unless you're coming with us!" Leo let out a low growl, pinching the bridge of his nose from the sensing of his headache giving him a killer migraine.

_'With each passing day, he's becoming more impatient and louder than he normally is. If I'd known going up to the surface would cause this to happen, I should've had Don bring sedatives to calm him down on the very first night we explored the city.' _"And I suppose you and the guys want me to come out, don't you?" He asked in a tired voice, while he reach for the bottle of Tylenol and took out two white-pills from the container, quickly swallowing them dry and whole without any difficulties in the least.

"Uh, yeah, we do, and right now would be great!"

_Do you think one of them informed Father of you five going up to the surface, but not for patrol? He sounds very excited and very impatient, that letting Father know of you four and April are going up to the city to just hang out may had slipped his mind._

_'Hang on, I'll ask, though I have a hunch they didn't.' _"Before I answer your question, Mikey, have any of you guys informed Master Splinter we'll be leaving for the surface?"

"...Uh, nope. Not yet, Leo." The blue-masked turtle smirked to the answer, not feeling any kind of anger for his youngest-brother to not inform their sensei of their evening plans.

_'First his inability to be patient and now starts to forget to let Sensei know of our leaving for a friendly outing of the city. The surface world is making more of a change to us than we thought it would.' _"Tell the guys that I'll be out in a minute or two, and be sure that one of you three inform Sensei that we'll be exploring the city with April. If he asks if we'll be out on patrol, tell him that we'll keep our eyes out for any signs of danger or trouble."

"You got it, bro!" The stomping sound of feet running towards the living room allowed the eldest turtle to know his brother has left to complete his orders, giving him a few more minutes to finish up his latest entry into his journal before one of his brothers try to break down the door and drag him out of the Lair with them.

* * *

_Tonight, rather than going out for patrol and, for Raph's amusement and favorite hobbies, bash some heads, April wants to take us to eat at a favorite __restaurant of hers. Don, still having his head stuck in the clouds and living in his fantasy world that he'll have a shot with her, believes this will count to be their very first date together, while bringing along the rest of us. __When April suggested that we go out to eat, rather than staying in the sewers or out busting heads, I can tell that she planned this as some sort of occasion and part of my thoughts and gut feeling tells me it has something to do with me._

_Unfortunately, for her, in those seven weeks that passed, I still haven't given her my trust and had kept my distance from her, being the one and only turtle and Clan member to interact with her the least. She isn't doing anything wrong to keep me from giving her my trust or to believe she's becoming a threat to the Clan, she just hasn't proved to me that I can trust her. Yes, she's keeping our existence a secret from her Aunt, friends and the rest of the humans. And yes, she's been kind enough to get us some human-food and other materials to make our home in a much better condition. Heck, she hangs out in the Lair, even spends a few nights every week with us down below or on missions and bonds with my brothers and Sensei. However, in my eyes and the way my animal-behavior sees it, she just seems to be bribing her way into having us accept her into the Hamato Clan much quicker and sooner than we should've decided on later in the future. Being part wolf and the only one in the family to be wolf, she must prove herself to be loyal to the family and to never betray us, unless she has a very good reason to betray our trust and is willing to make up for what she did._

_Sensei's also going to train her into becoming a Kunoichi, a female ninja. When Master Splinter asked her on how she knew that Dr. Rockwell was the monkey, she stated that she somehow knew and had this 'feeling' that told her it was him... My suspicious and instinct are correct about her being different; that 'feeling' she has, is actually a sign that she possesses an innate spiritual sensitivity and attunement with the universe that Master Splinter had trained much of his life to attain. I should know, because of me being part wolf and being trained much sooner in my childhood/toddler years, I already gained that sort of ability, I just rely on my senses and instincts much more than my achieved ability, but that doesn't mean they'll stay hidden or won't come out._

_Anyway, April seemed thrilled on going to be trained into a Kunoichi and my brothers, mostly Donnie, are also excited on having another ninja in the family. As for myself... To be honest, I'm not really sure how to feel about that. I know that I'm happy to hear she'll be a ninja and will be able to defend herself during the day. However, another part of me isn't very much pleased of Sensei's decision on having her be trained with us, especially when my instincts wants me to keep my distance from her for still not earning my trust... Although, I'll be able to observe her skills, what her strength and weaknesses are and see which parts that needs to be fixed, so she'll be able to protect herself more perfectly than she think she'll be able to do... This doesn't mean she earned my trust; since she's a new member of the team and, unfortunately, because I'm the leader, it's my job and duty to be sure every member of the team are at the top of their games when in a fight and are able to hold out on their own._

_I better stop my entry for the night; I can hear Mikey struggling to stay with the guys but is about ready to comeback to my bedroom door and bring it down if that's what it takes to drag me out of my room and get going. I'll be sure to update as soon as I can, which I hope won't be for very long. Until then, rest in peace like the sleeping sun that sets with the day to rise once more, like the Phoenix reborn from the ashes of its past to begin a new day of life._

* * *

**Above the Surface, New York City; Chinatown...**  
"You guys want to speed it up a little?" April asked the guys, thinking they're hiding behind the corner of movie theater.

"Are you saying turtles are slow?" Don asked the redhead, surprising the teenager that her friends are actually hiding behind the booth of the movie theater that a worker would work at to hand out the tickets to the costumers, and that she didn't hear them at all on moving to a different spot.

"That's a hurtful stereotype." Mikey told the sixteen year-old, who he and Raph hid on the other side of the booth, feeling a bit offended that even she were to believe that despite being mutated ninjas, she would think of them being slow because they're turtles. Leo, who hid on the same side with Raph and Mikey but leaned up against the wall where the manager would post up poster of what movie will be playing, kept his eyes and hearing out for any humans that could be coming their way and when to give the signal to his brothers to hide. Sensing and hearing nobody coming their way, the blue-masked turtle turned to the redhead.

"We're better off keeping a low profile," he plainly told April. "We find humans treat us better when they don't know we exist." After explaining himself to why he and his brothers don't follow her out in the open and have to stay on ninja-stealth mode, though hiding a more reason to why he, himself, prefer to stay behind the rest of the teenagers, his gaze went back out to the street.

"Sorry. I'm just so excited to get you out of the sewer for a change." She told the turtles, though she kept her gaze on the eldest turtle instead of to the rest of the turtles, almost sounding as if she was mostly referring to him, considering to the fact she hardly sees him go up to the surface unless one of his brothers are in danger or when on a mission.

"What are you talking about? We go out all the time." Even if he knows the five of them were going out to a friendly night of just hanging out, Raph seemed to not get that his way of having a good time won't be what he expects it to be.

"Yeah, but tonight you're going to do something besides hitting people." April told the red-masked turtle, breaking the news quick and simple to him.

"Aww..." Raph whined, feeling disappointed to hear he won't be blowing off some steams to any Kraang or mutants for tonight.

"Don't worry. You're going to love this noodle place I found."

"And you're sure we'll be welcome?" Don asked, looking a bit nervous and uneasy of the thought on how the outcome would turn out if humans at the noodle shop see four mutant turtles coming into the restaurant with ninja weapons.

"Oh, yeah. Mr. Murakami doesn't care what you look like." April answered, her voice sounding very confident and reassuring that her plans with the guys will go smoothly. "In fact, he won't even know what you look like. He's blind."

"Awesome!" Mikey cried, until he gotten a good whack in the head by Raph and to realize what he just said. "I mean, for us obviously." He then put on a big smile, trying to show to the three teenagers that his last comment meant for the advantage of not freaking out the human, not to hearing of the misfortune the human, Mr. Murakami, has to live with. Quickly noticing that he realize he saw only three older teenagers with him and an empty spot that the second-eldest teenager of the group used to be, the smile went away. "Uh, guys, did Leo went on ahead?" The older teens turned their gaze to where they last seen Leo and, also stunned to find him gone, they left their spots to see outside of the building better. Just as soon as they started to panic, it quickly went away when Raph's emerald-green eyes stared up at the theater's rooftop.

"Relax, you guys, he's still here." He sighed out, pointing a finger where the eldest turtle stood over the ledge of the building, arms crossed over his chest and eyes glaring out over parts of the city he can see.

The teens below him all let out sigh of relief to know one of their own hasn't left the group, with three turtles having be worried that he tried to go off on his own and the human-girl thinking he was waiting for the moment to bail out to avoid hanging out with her. In fact, the main reason why they're even out on a friendly stroll towards Chinatown, is so that she can learn more about Leonardo and try to see if she can figure out ways to hang out with him. Though she had a great time spending with the three younger-turtles and Splinter, the redhead didn't feel complete or truly welcomed into the Hamato Clan when one family member refuses to join in with the group whenever she comes around to spend time with them.

The blue-masked turtle glanced down at his three brothers and April for only a few seconds, before he lifted his gaze back to the buildings, once again ignoring the group of teens below him and the theater building.

"Is he always like this?" April asked the three turtles beside her, keeping her sky-blue eyes on the forest-green turtle in case he tries to pull off his 'ninja vanishing' trick.

"Yeah, but most of the times or at this very moment, he'll be exploring the sewers and tunnels on his own to either scavenge for some stuff for the Lair or to do whatever he does when he's out on his own in the tunnels." Donnie explained to the redhead, who seemed a bit stunned and confused to what the purple-masked turtle stated on what the eldest-brother would be doing.

"Really? And none of you guys are worried that he could get seriously hurt or lost, while he's out on his own?" April questioned, taking her eyes off of the blue-masked turtle for a mere minute to stare at her remaining friends standing with her.

"Believe it or not, April, Leo can take care of himself when he goes off." Raph replied, not sounding a bit concerned or in the least worried of the possibility for their brother to be in danger and needing help. "Trust us, when we tell you on how you're seeing Leo as right now, is perfectly normal."

When they looked back up, the eldest turtle was still in his spot and, as if like some sort of statue, hadn't budged an inch or move out of the pose he chose to stand in. Although, even from a far distance, April can tell something was on Leonardo's mind and his eyes seemed to be focusing somewhere in the direction that she knows for certain is to where her favorite noodle shop is. The blue-masked turtle then jerked his head up a bit, almost like a deer would when it hear something that doesn't sound good or out of the ordinary, and without any thought or hesitation, he put on a burst of speed and sprint over to the next building across the street, vanishing out of the four teens sight from down below. Taking immediate action, they all made a quick dash after the eldest turtle, running over the street and sidewalk and keeping a constant eye on top at the Katana wielder to be sure he doesn't vanish out of their sight.

"Is this another normal thing of his?" April asked the guys, surprisingly keeping up with the turtles but slowly starting to slow down a bit from not having that much stamina like the turtles do.

"Sort of, but he usually does this whenever he senses danger and somebody needs help." Raph stated, glaring up at his big brother and saw him reaching out for Musashi and Kamiizumi. He then let out smirk, slowly reaching out for his sais. "And when he pulls out his Katanas, that means we got some serious ass kicking to take care of."

By the time they turned a corner, after going down four blocks and three sharp turns into different alleys, Leo jumped down from a building he was just on and landed in front of the four teens, glaring at a building that holds some sort of restaurant with a sign above the door that looks to represent the flag of Japan, with an image of a bowl of noodles at the bottom and Japanese Kanji in the center: "**村上**", which translates to 'Murakami', which also means "upper village" in Japanese. Through the red-screens of the window, Leo can make out three shadow-figures of humans throwing objects inside of the shop and destroying it, with a small fourth-shadow ducking away from the objects and trying to get away from the taller shadows. Leo let out a low growl, disgusted on having to see on what humans can do to innocent people and how disturbing it was that the humans causing destruction actually enjoy bringing pain to others.

_'And this is why I have every rights and reason to not fully trust April like my brothers do,' _he thought to himself.

"Oh, no." Leo turned his head to April, who seemed to know what was going on inside of the noodle shop, as they all made a quick dash to the front of the shop.

"Who are those creeps?" Donatello asked, wondering if the redhead knew who the humans inside of the shop are, who continues on breaking the values of the shop and beating down an innocent person who may possibly be Mr. Murakami she was talking about.

"The Purple Dragons. They think they own the streets around here." It was pretty clear to the turtles, from the irritated tone and anger of April's voice and seeing the three shadow-figures of the humans destroying whatever they can get their hands on from inside, that the Purple Dragons are a gang of thieves and possibly murderers, from the way they seemed to show no mercy to the owner of the shop.

"So much for not hitting people tonight..." Leo grumbled out, popping his knuckles and getting his younger brother, Raphael, excited when he saw his eldest-brother preparing his knuckles for a fight.

"Oh well," he stated. Without any more hesitation, Michelangelo kicked down the door.

"Booyakasha!" He announced their presence to the humans, all of the turtles getting into their defense fighting-stance without bringing out their weapons.

In front of the turtles, stood three Chinese, or at least Chinese-Americans, people, with one of them standing on top of the bar counter and the other two on the other side of the counter. They look young, somewhere in their twenties, wearing black-vests and what looks to be hakama sweatpants. Judging from the same black-outfits the three are wearing and the tattoo of a dragon motif on their left-arms, it was safe to say that they were the 'Purple Dragons' that April was talking about.

"Huh?" One of them, who stood in the center of the group and probably appears to be the leader, gasped out in shock from the sight of four human-sized turtles. While the three humans were stunned to see the five newcomers stopping them from trashing up the restaurant, with April staying behind the turtles and searching for Mr. Murakami, Leonardo seemed a bit confused and sort of unsatisfied at who he and his brothers are facing against.

_'Them?... We have to face them?...' _He wondered in thoughts, analyzing the Purple Dragons' appearance and not looking a bit worried or feeling threaten at all from the sight of the three. _'I know that I mustn't get too overconfident or judge them by their __appearance and how they can hurt innocent people, but it's completely obvious to say that they'll be of no threat to my brothers and I and won't be any difficulties to take care of them.'_

The first guy Leo looked at was the one standing outside of the bar counter. He wore a purple-bandana over his forehead, which he must be using to keep his hair from getting into his face, three silver-bangles on both of his wrists. He appears to be the most heavily muscled and plays the part like some enforcer, but he doesn't seem to be very smart and seems more of a follower, waiting to be told what to do before he does something and follows the other two around.

The second guy, standing on the bar counter, seems to be the hustler of the group, who may had even been able to swindle people out of money. On his face, he has a goatee, and his hair seemed smoothed down. He held a sledgehammer in his hands and doesn't seem to be afraid to use such a weapon on other people, but his weapon may slow him down long enough for the turtles to dodge from the blows. It may not be easy to tell, but the eldest turtle has some sort of feeling that he may be the oldest of the gang, about a year at best older than the other two.

And lastly, the third guy came to the turtle's attention, who Leo is completely certain to be the leader of the group. He looks to be the youngest, almost to be mistaken for a teenager, but it was obvious to the turtle that he's in his twenties from how he doesn't look as young as April. He looks to be thin, almost like Snake was before he got mutated into a giant weed, and has a thin beard on his face, with some miniature hairs growing on the top of his upper-lip. His left-arm is covered in a long-cabled fingerless glove, which the turtle can small a small scent of blood. On his chest, he has a deep scar that goes from the left-top of his left-collarbone down to the midsection of his stomach.

It was now clear to why the humans would come and fear these three men, but to the turtles, they don't seem to be much of a challenge in their status.

_'I swear, even Mikey can handle these guys on his own, without the use of his Nunchaku, and won't even break a sweat in under five minutes.'_

_**Indeed, that's fact. However, just as Pup know and had been trained, never underestimate opponents and know there are innocent humans Pup must protect on battlefield.**_

"Alright, let him go. You don't want any trouble." Leonardo warned the Purple Dragons, his deep-blue eyes glaring out at the humans of a warning to not take his warning so lightly.

"We, on the other hand, do." Raphael told the humans, getting pumped up for a fight he knows will be too easy to take care of.

"Whoa, those guys were serious. There really are giant turtles." The human in the middle of the group said to his partners in crime, surprising the four brothers about the information they just heard.

"You've heard of us?" Michelangelo asked, making Leo turn his attention to his youngest-brother when he heard the stunned and small excitement building up within his voice.

_'Mikey. No. Not now...!'_

"Dudes, we're famous!" Leo had to grind his teeth together, stopping himself from giving Mikey a good scolding on believing them being 'famous' while on a battlefield isn't a good sign at all.

"That's bad." Donatello told the youngest, giving the orange-masked turtle a serious glare that tells him to not be happy about what he think is cool or considered to be good.

"Oh. Right." Mikey quickly agreed, his excitement going away and going back into being serious and ready for a fight.

"Whatever you are, this neighborhood is ours." The human in the center told the turtles, who Leo had immediately decided who he'll be fighting against and saving for the last. "So why don't you slither back to the ocean you came from?"

"Actually, we're freshwater turtles." Donnie told the human, now no longer in his fighting stance and going into his smart-talking explaining mode, which the other turtles know immediately he's no longer focusing or thinking of the fight at the moment.

_'Don, not you, too!' _Leo yelled in his head, feeling his patients already slipping the longer his brothers postponed the fight.

"I suspect that we're derived from the diamondback terrapin, but it's possible we're a common box-"

"Get 'em!" The human cried out, interrupting the purple-masked turtle's common sense. Leonardo smirked, happy to know that at least somebody decided to use their brain and shutting Don up about figuring out what kind of turtles the four of them are.

_'Thank you, my soon-to-be trapped prey.' _He said in his thoughts, waiting for the human with the sledgehammer to come at him and to duck out of the way for Mikey to double spin kick his opponent away. _'And to show you my thanks, I'll be facing you on my own and fight you with one hand behind my back.'_

_What of the guys?_

_'They'll be fine. They can take care of the other two on their own. Besides, I've been hoping to practice my __Taijutsu on someone and now seems as good as any other.' _After getting himself up to his full height, after having to duck down and allowing his brother to use him almost like a springboard, he made eye-contact with the human who stayed inside of the bar counter, searching for something to use for his weapon of choice. With eyes set on his opponent, Leo made a quick dash to the counter and leap over the table, standing face-to-face with his opponent.

Seeing that his opponent still hasn't got a weapon and having to follow a code that prevents him from fighting an unarmed opponent, even if they aren't a threat to the fighter, the turtle crossed his arms and took a step back, allowing the human access to the counter to help give him a fighting chance against the turtle. Though confused and unsure on why the turtle isn't attacking him when he's open for an attack, the human wasted no time on grabbing for the nearing weapon to be his weapon, which is a large butcher knife. Leo prepared himself to fight, when he heard a small groan from behind and below him, which after getting a quick glance to the floor behind him, to be Mr. Murakami April has mentioned to be blind and okay to be around. He then noticed, after a quick sniff in the air, that the human has blood on him, not a lot to be a sign that he needs immediate medical attention, but enough to make Leo's blood boil.

_**Blind-Elder hurt. Opponent stain of _**Blind-Elder**_'s blood on glove. Defend and protect _**Blind-Elder**_ from enemy.**_

Just as it did to April, Leo was a bit taken back at what his instincts just dubbed the old-man by.

_'First April with the "She-Pup" name, and now Murakami-san with "Blind-Elder"?' _He stated, not sure if his instincts doing this on purpose to fuel the fire to protect the innocent man, or it knows that the blind one needs his help and is already under his protection to defend him from the Purple Dragon.

_**She-Pup April speaks truth of _**Blind-Elder**_ Murakami being blind and _**Blind-Elder**_ Murakami badly wounded from dishonorable Purple Dragons. _**Blind-Elder**_ obviously tried to face enemy on own to protect territory, even with **_**_disability of sight, and if She-Pup April say that Pup and Kin can trust human, Blind-Elder earned right to have trust... Besides, _**Blind-Elder**_ Murakami's Japanese, like Alpha, and appears older than Alpha._**

Leonardo's eyes widen from the information and that, alone, along with getting another glance at the old-man who the turtle believe to be somewhere in his sixties, gave him more than a good reason to stand in front of Mr. Murakami's fallen form and to unfold his arms to hold up his right-hand he decided to use to attack, ready to defend the fallen blind Japanese-human that the leader of the Purple Dragon thought it would be fun to beat down.

_'Looks like your right, and have a very good point of me having to now see him as a new member of the Pack.' _Leo thought to himself, glaring at the now armed human, who held the knife up in the air but the hand holding the knife seemed to be trembling a bit. Immediately, the turtle knew that the human before him isn't bad and tough as he's supposed to be known by the innocent victims he and his guys attacked. _'Should've known. On the outside he seems to be tough and ruthless, but really, he's nothing but a coward who spreads fear into the hearts of the innocents by making and causing threats, even going as far as to pick on those who don't stand a chance against him and his gang.'_

Small-shuffling sounds caught his hearing, which Leo knew must be April, who must be looking for the owner of the shop and stunned to find him laying behind the eldest turtle, who's waiting for his opponent to make the first move. Taking a quick glance at the redhead, making an immediate eye-contact with her, jerked his head slightly to the left, giving the girl a head body language that tells her to take the fallen blind man out of the shop and away from the fight. With a firm nod back from the girl and after gently shaking the man out of unconsciousness, also to toss a pot-lid at the goatee man that tried to attack Mikey from behind with the sledgehammer while the youngest turtle was about to try out some ramen, April placed his right-arm over her shoulders and helped Mr. Murakami to his feet, heading for the walls to stay out of the turtles way and for the elderly man to use for support. Glaring at the sight of the girl and blind man heading out of the shop, the human before Leo made a quick grab for a large-bowl and flung it towards the two.

"April! Murakami-san! **Ahiru **(Duck)**!**" By the cry of the leader's voice, Mr. Murakami brought both himself and April to duck down, just in time for the bowl to crash into the wall over their heads and to finally make it outside, where it will be safe for the two of them to be at until the fight finally stops. Satisfied to see neither of the humans had gotten seriously hurt and now focusing on the now scared human, Leonardo placed his hand down and calmly walked forward towards the leader of the Purple Dragon. In fear of the turtle approaching him, the human made unaimed strikes with the butcher knife, as if trying to scare the turtle away and hoping to get a good scratch at the turtle, but showed to be completely pathetic and no effect on scaring the blue-masked turtle.

Then, getting back to his fighting pose by folding his left-arm behind his back and holding out his right-hand to use to strike, he once again waited for his opponent to make the move on him. Simply by looking into the dark-brown eyes of his opponent, Leo can tell where the human was looking at and what he was planning on doing. The gazes were short and would shift slightly to a different spot that he's staring at the turtle, but the moment they widen, the turtle knew he has decided to randomly bring down the butcher knife down and hope he gets a lucky shot, which he believes he'll be able to injure the turtle's right-shoulder and get a better chance to attack the blue-masked turtle once he's withering in pain.

_**An unpredictable choice; many foes go for chest or shoulders, while some go for either neck or stomach and very few even think about going after eyes or left-temple, strongest point of human's weakness.**_

_Either the humans has forgotten all about striking the left-temple while in the middle of a fight, their adrenaline blinding them in an attempt to defend themselves from their opponents, or they actually want the fighting to last longer._

_**This human's still young and too inexperienced to pick a bone with Pup, simple problem Pup can easily take care... Pup knows what to do.**_

With a calm face and a straight posture, Leo didn't have to wait long for his opponent to strike, who pulled back as quickly as he could and brought the knife down. The turtle, already knowing what his opponent was planning to do and with little effort, merely slapped the knife out of the human's hand and the moment the human was left with no weapon, gave two jab punches as his choice of attack, one to the chest and the other to the stomach. Forcefully being pulled back to lean on the bar counter and to only able to lean back up, gave Leo plenty of time to position himself to give a good roundhouse kick to the human's face and sending him tumbling down to the end of the bar counter and slamming his back against the wall.

_Quickly, pin him to the wall!_

A quick flip up on the counter and a short sprint to end with a slide on the bar, the human found the turtle standing in front of him and his back pinned up against the wall by the turtle's right-hand gripping onto his left-shoulder and his left-hand held out in a form of a fist. The turtle's deep-blue eyes held rage, no hesitation to strike. But most of all, he showed no mercy in his gaze and that, alone, was all the human knew that he's now in the mercy of the turtle before him. In a reaction of fear and preparing himself for the pain that he knew will come, the human closed his eye and lifted his head up a bit, letting out small whimpers that tells the turtle he's scared and wanted his end to be quick.

**_Coward, nothing but Curl-Tail, now that enemy is victim. Curl-Tail and Pack members attacked a blind elder, no inexcusable reason, and showed no mercy. Now, Curl-Tail's going to experience what Blind-Elder went through and will soon feel pain he put Blind-Elder in, once Pup puts Curl-Tail in place._**

_'Which it'll be my pleasure to do, as I take care of him and then give the same treatment to his friends.' _Leonardo thought to himself, pulling his fist back a bit to prepare himself to beat the leader that he now holds his fate in his hand. Just as he was about to deliver a good punch, something caught his attention that prevented him from finishing what he started with the leader of the Purple Dragon. It wasn't the whimpers the human was letting out or of him cowering in fear on being terribly beaten. Heck, it wasn't even the small feeling of mercy the turtle sense within his heart on wanting to show he's stronger than the human and not wanting to stoop to his level. No, it was something he's doing before Leo's eyes, that he and his wolf-instincts know he must follow a certain rule of their own.

His fist trembled from the mixed feeling he has within him, fighting over on being used to deliver a painful blow to the Purple Dragon's face or to unclench itself back into a hand and push aside the feeling for vengeance.

_Vengeance? Is this is what the feeling of anger towards the Purple Dragon is about?... Despite wanting to get even with them for beating an innocent human, including one that's blind, you can't go around taking the rules or law into your own hands... You can't become like them... Release him._

_**Besides, coward of a Curl-Tail got lucky by showing submission to Pup, without even realizing what Curl-Tail's doing or that exposing neck tells Pup of surrender and admitting defeat to Pup... Omega-Brothers and Beta-Brother won't like decision, but-... Release the Curl-Tail human.**_

Leonardo didn't like what both his instincts and conscience just told him to do, but in the end, the turtle already knew he has to do the right thing, no matter how much he's never going to hear the end of it from Raphael or how much he's going to be kicking himself for making such a choice that'll make him look as if he's gone soft , even if that isn't what the turtle is worried about.

_'...Ugh... Damn me and my decision making!' _With eyes narrowed with regret, anger on wanting to beat the human for harming an innocent human but knows that he can't give the certain punishment he wanted to give to the human and has to let him go, Leonardo released his hold on the human's shoulder and just glared into the shocked and confused gaze of the human's dark-brown eyes. Leo jerked his head slightly towards the door, ignoring the stunned gaze of his brothers watching the sight of their big brother letting his opponent go. "Get out of here," he growled out.

With no need to be told twice and pushing the turtle aside, the human calmly and slowly made his way towards the front of the bar counter and jumped down, making his way to his two fallen gang member.

"Come on. Let's go!" He told the two, shaking them a bit to help them gather their thoughts on what's going on and without a second thought, the two Purple Dragons got to their feet and made their ways out of the shop. Before joining his retreating gang, the leader of the gang turned to the turtles, mostly at Leonardo. "This ain't over, Greeny!" He stated, and just like that, he made a quick dash to his gang, not bothering to pick another fight or sneak a glance to April and Mr. Murakami.

"'Greeny'? Really?!" Donatello exclaimed, not sure if he should feel offended by the name or be annoyed that the human couldn't think up a better combat on the name calling. "I wonder how many brain cells he put to work on that." As always, Leonardo glared at his brother for making up a comment to describe how idiotic the human is.

_'We finish taking care of the Purple Dragon by letting them go, and all he can think about his the name the human just called us? I swear, it seems like to Don, knowledge and logic of the event that played before us is the most important thing to have on his mind.' _He thought to himself, as he jumped down to the floor and quietly made his way to the front of the bar counter. To his left, the brother he knew that was going to chew him out came towards him.

"You just let him go? What the heck was that?!" Raphael yelled, completely pissed that not only the fight has ended too early, but that his big-brother just let the leader and his gang go. With a blank face, Leo calmly stared into his brother's rage-filled eyes.

"They weren't exactly a threat," he answered. "They were already at our mercy the very moment the fight started. And besides, they knew to finally stop fighting when they realized they didn't stand a chance against our skills." He then took a quick glance back outside, no longer seeing the three Purple Dragons within his sight of range. "They had enough."

"Dude! They were beating up a blind guy! There's no 'enough'!" Raph loudly reminded, his face raising to a new level of loud from the answer he gained from his brother. "Now they'll think we're wimps and we don't have the guts to finish the job!" Snapping his gaze back to his brother, Leo deep-blue eyes glared into the depths of Raph's emerald-green eyes.

"Is that what you're worried about? Your status of being a badass being reduced to a spineless, gutless, weakling?" Despite Raph being nearly five inches taller, Leo's gaze made the inside of the red-masked turtle go cold and nearly shrinking in fear of the terrible feeling the blue-eyes held. "A true warrior doesn't fight for the sake of keeping his rank high and unbreakable, nor does he goes around slaughtering his opponents to avoid being called 'weak-willed' or 'coward'. Instead, he fights to protect the innocents, for the sake to help him protect his friends and loved ones." His gaze then went back to the door, where he saw April and Mr. Murakami returning into the shop. "Be glad that we've won the fight and was able to protect an innocent man." Deciding to not bring up the topic any longer, for the time being, Raph kept his mouth shut.

"Wow. That was great, you guys!" April exclaimed, helping the owner of the noodle shop towards the bar counter and to sit him down in one of the chairs.

"Thanks, April." Donatello replied back, feeling mighty proud of himself that he did something to gain the redhead's attention. Then, with his head swelled up on the thought of April commenting his fighting skills, he decided to gloat with the girl on the parts he's taken cared of one of the Purple Dragon on his own. "Did you see when I caught the one guy and flipped him onto the counter? Did it look cool? I bet it looked cool."

Disproving of what his brother's trying to do, Leo folded his arms in front of his chest and shook his head.

_**Omega-Brother Donatello still tries to court She-Pup April into being soon-to-be mate. Typical pup, when Omega-Brother should obviously know neither self nor She-Pup are in actual age on being eligible to have mates of own. Omega-Brother should simply realize that feelings Omega-Brother has for She-Pup are simple child-like crush, fantasy illusion that makes Omega-Brother** think** in love**._

_Not only that, even if he were to have her to be his 'girlfriend', no doubt their relationship wouldn't last for very long. Besides, it's completely obvious that she views Don as a brother, not a love-interest or lover on top of that._

_'No doubt she already knows that, but is possibly waiting for the right moment or time to tell him how she actually feels about him. I'll stay quiet about this and let her handle this situation.'_

"The coolest." A small pause of silence went by.

_'...She didn't see it; her heart pounded an extra few beats and her voice sounded a bit uncertain, indicating she's lying and isn't sure how to tell Don that she didn't see him take down one of the Purple Dragons.'_

"...You didn't see it, did you?" Don said, feeling the pride getting ripped away and a bit embarrassed on making a fool of himself.

"No, I did not." April answered, her voice sounding how sorry she was for giving him such false hope on having them talk to each other.

"My friends, I'm indebted to you." Mr. Murakami told the four turtles, his voice sounding very tired from having to be tossed around and being punched by the Purple Dragons but held so much appreciation and gratitude on what the turtles did for him, that Leonardo's negative feelings on letting the Purple Dragons go instantly vanished from his mind and heart. "Please, allow me to make you a meal. Free of charge."

The blue-masked turtle, knowing that the human is blind, gave him a soft smile, happy to see that the attack hadn't damaged the elderly-human to lose his trust into knowing there are people who care and are willing to help him in his time of need.

_For somebody who's been beaten and pushed around, he sure has a strong spirit._

_**Blind-Elder also knows how to show gratitude to Pup and Omega-Brothers and Beta-Brother, though shouldn't have to go through trouble on doing such a task.**_

_'I know. I'm more than happy to simply be there for _Murakami-san_ whenever he's in danger, with nothing to gain back in return for my services... Even if he is blind and we've only just met him, he clearly trust us enough call us "his friends" and for that, I shall accept him as a friend and see him as a member of our Pack.'_

"I think we can allow that." Raphael said, smiling from actually getting and seeing some good in what their rescuing got them into. Leo, on the other hand, gave him a quick glare at having to sound like he was expecting an award in exchange for their help.

_'Of course, unlike myself, my brother seems to want to be the kind of hero that wants an award for his services and not for free.'_

_Either that, or maybe he's taking the offer for an excuse to distract him from having to keep fighting with you on why you let the Purple Dragons go._

_'Even so, that still isn't a good enough excuse to make an injured man to cook a meal to show his appreciation.' _Leo then turned his gaze to the shop, catching sight of some of the chairs and furniture of the restaurant sprawled out on the floor and some items that are made of glass completely broken into pieces all over the floor. _'It'll probably take Murakami-san a while to get this place cleaned up before his next customers come over for food, considering he must be in some sort of pain from the beating of the Purple Dragons he's taken... I'll help him out by cleaning up the Purple Dragons' mess they made in his shop.'_

"What is your favorite dish?" Mr. Murakami asked the turtles, happy to hear that his saviors will take up his offer for having a free meal to express his gratitude. Leo was barely able to hold back a groan from the question the human just asked him and his brothers.

_'_Murakami-san just asked the forbidden question,_'_ he thought to himself. _'There's only one food on their mind and that food is...'_

"Pizza!" The three brothers cheered out, big smiles plastered on their faces and excitement coursing their veins of the thought on having pizza as their reward for helping Mr. Murakami as an acceptable payment.

_'Pizza...' _Leo's stomach let out a growl, but it wasn't just the kind of growl that tells its master he's hungry. It also let out an upset-stomach growl from thinking about the very food his brothers grew obsessed with and preferred to eat almost all day and every day. _'I swear, it's almost like to them, pizza is the only food source they can live off of. Can't they ask for something else that doesn't involve grease-covered cheese or sauce that nearly resembles itself to blood but is actually juice from tomatoes that almost taste like they've gone rotten?'_

Pushing the thought of pizza aside from his mind the best he could and while his brothers and April took a seat in the chairs around the bar counter to wait for their meal to come, the blue-masked turtle went for the fallen furnitures that still laid in their spots from being forcefully yanked out of their places by the Purple Dragons and went into putting them back in their places. The scraping of the chairs caught the blind man's attention, who was swiftly going over from one pan for another on his big stove that sat in the center of the bar-counter. He would've told the eldest turtle that he would take care of the cleaning of the shop himself, but he can sense that the turtle wanted to help out and seems to not want to take no for an answer. So, instead, he kept his attention on the meal and let one of his heroes clean the mess that he didn't have to do.

It took Leo under two minutes to get all the chairs back in their spots and another minute to dispose of the destroyed chairs, as well as replacing them with newer chairs that the owner keeps behind the Noren. The moment he finished, he used his nose to help him find the broom, which was hiding behind the Noren that covers the staircase that he had a hunch leads to Mr. Murakami's apartment, to sweep away the shattered glass, destroyed parts of the plants and splintered wood chips to form them in a pile and using the dustpan for some assistance, rid away any sort of evidence that the Purple Dragons came to the noodle shop.

"Murakami-san, that was awesome!" Donnie told the owner of the shop, astounded by the way the human moves over the stove with ease and has impressed the three turtles with his moves on how he makes his dish.

"You're like a ninja, but for food." Mikey complimented, wondering if the human had actually been a ninja in his younger years before he was a food maker for a noodle shop.

It was pretty clear that none of the three turtles took notice of their big brother taking care of the mess that the Purple Dragons had left behind and didn't think about wanting to help clean up the mess, which is what Leo prefers to have; to only be silence and unnoticeable, never to be heard unless told or asked. The only one who noticed his kind generosity to Mr. Murakami was April, who seemed a bit surprised that none of the other turtles had given a thought about helping Leo with the cleaning and didn't seem amused that they were keeping their focus on Mr. Murakami making their meal. She was actually thinking about helping the blue-masked turtle with the task and give the younger brothers a bit of a scolding for not offering to help out, but she can tell from the look on Leo's face that he wanted to have a few moments to be on his own and that he seemed to want to take care of the mess by himself. So, she stayed quiet in her seat and kept an eye on the turtle until he finally finished cleaning the shop and went to take a seat on the other side of the bar counter, a chair away from Raphael's left-side of the table.

Minutes later, Mr. Murakami finally finished his dish he prepared for the four turtles.

"Pizza Gyoza!" He announced, placing out four wooden sushi plates in front of the turtles, all having ten potstickers laid out and a miniature dipping bowl on the left-end of their plates that held some sort of sauce for the brothers to dip their pizza dumplings/potstickers into.

"'Pizza Gyoza'?" April questioned, obviously never hearing such a certain kind of potsticker to be made with pizza filling and completely positive that it wouldn't taste good if its in a mixture of Japanese food and italian food. As for the turtles, they all eyed their food with curious looks on their faces, with the three younger brothers already picking up one potsticker and trying it out. The moment the food went into their mouths and took their first bite into their meal, the taste was so delicious that they could've sworn their eyes just popped out of their sockets from the marvelous flavor they've ever tasted. And so, the three brothers immediately dig into their meal, savoring each and every dumpling they scarfed down.

"Wow." Raph was at a loss for word to describe how he really felt about the food.

"Delish!" Mikey cried.

"It's like I got a one-way ticket to Flavorville!" Donnie commented,

"This is really good too, you know." April told the boys, holding up her Miso soup to see if any of the guys were interested on trying it out, which ended up with the three turtles going back into eating their Pizza Gyoza.

While the four teens ate, Leo simply stared down nonchalantly at his potstickers, already knowing from the smell of the food it was a very appetizing meal. However, because the scent also carries the scent of what pizza would have, his stomach didn't seem to want to have any of the pizza potstickers unless the turtle would wanna risk having to purge the food out of his stomach, again. Not only that, he couldn't really lower his guard, not after going head-to-head with the Purple Dragons and knowing that the area Mr. Murakami lives isn't a safe place to be comfortable in. Because of that, the turtle has been turning his gaze from his meal to the door, watching out for any shadows of suspicious characters that may look as if they're trying to break in and keeping a close hearing for any sound of trouble trying to come into the shop.

_You know, if you don't start eating, the guys are going to be questioning your eating habits again, and no doubt Raph's going to pin you down and force feed you._

_'I know that,' _he thought to himself. _'It's just that I can't; it's basically a pizza dish and just the thought of pizza makes me want to starve myself until the creation of pizza finally comes to an end.'_

_Don't let the guys hear you say that, or else they'll come to believe you're a Kraandroid in disguise or some sort of evil-clone of their big brother. Besides, you also like pizza as much as they do._

_'...Yeah, I know, but that doesn't mean I love it so much to wanna eat it all the time, twenty-four/seven. And the homemade pizza Mikey would make, he sure knows how to make a person go bulimic from the sight and smell of his food.' _A shiver ran down his spine from the last pizza Mikey decided to make. _'Never thought he would actually try to make an actual Fish Pizza, by adding Tuna Fish and Sardine into the making with the cheese and sauce. And to top it all off, two Japanese fish sauces: Shottsuru and Ishiru... Ugh, I should be glad he didn't think about adding worms into the meal.'_

_...Well, that's Mikey for you: Strange appetite can lead one to wanna make different kinds of creation they believe to become a great masterpiece._

_'Yeah, I noticed... Anyway, my mind just isn't in the mood for food right now; it's still lost in thought about the Purple Dragons coming to Mr. Murakami's shop.'_

_**Best to ask Blind-Elder question. May know something about Purple Dragons that can give Pup some sort of clue on where Purple Dragon den is.**_

_'...Good idea... I should probably ask in his native tongue, just in case somebody could be listening on our conversation.'_

_**Wise idea, Pup.**_

With his mind made up and finding it as a good excuse to not eat, Leonardo lifted his head to stare at the human before him. **"Murakami-san wa, murasakiiro no doragonzu wa ōku o atsumatte kuru nodesu ka **(Murakami-san, do the Purple Dragons come around a lot)**?"** Him speaking in Japanese brought a confused look on April's face, questioning glances from his brothers and a stunned Mr. Murakami that one of his saviors had asked him a question in his native tongue.

"Uh... What did Leo say?" April asked Don, who was the closest turtle sitting next to her.

Ever since she agreed to become a Kunoichi, she had also decided to take up some Japanese lesson so that she would be able to understand what Splinter would say to her or when one of the turtles were to slip their tongues into their Sensei's language. She was indeed a fast learner into the language, but just like all beginners, she doesn't fully understand the whole language of Japanese.

"He asked Murakami-san if the Purple Dragons come here a lot," the purple-masked turtle whispered back to the girl. Letting out a tiring sigh, Leo knew what the answer was to his question.

**"Hai,"** he answered. "They demand protection money, but I refuse to pay. They will surely return." At that last sentence, Leo knew who was going to speak up next and what it was going to be about.

_'Oh, God, please don't it up, Raph.'_ He silently prayed, though he knew he won't be getting his wish._ 'I'm not in the mood to argue and all I want to do is head back to the Lair and get some sleep, before I go off and track down the Purple Dragon's hideout.'_

"Well, they wouldn't if somebody hadn't wimped out." Raph remarked, giving his brother one of his disproving glares to try and make him second guess his judgement for letting the leader and his gang go. However, the blue-masked turtle knew that in his heart, he made the right choice by showing compassion and mercy for the human. And so, despite the throbbing pain building up, Leo decide to play his brother's game.

"Oh really, Raph?" He asked, returning the glare back to his brother, but not giving him the cold-feeling like his last glare gave him. "You believe that they would leave Murakami-san alone, just like that, if we beaten them even more than they'd already had to take from us?"

"Uh, yeah, I do." Raph's answer was too quick of a response, which means he answered with what he believes his statement to be right and not seeing the negative side on what if they didn't let the Purple Dragons go.

"Well, then, you're a fool to believe that would actually happen." Don and Mikey nearly choked on their last few remaining Pizza Gyoza when they heard what their big brother just said to the hothead turtle, who also looked stunned by the blue-masked turtle's word. April, who also ceased her eating, could feel a dark tension going around the air and she knows that there's probably going to be some sort of fight between the two eldest brothers.

"What was that, Fearless?" Raph growled out, scraping his chair back to get up to his feet and stomping his way to the eldest-turtle, who's face stayed completely calm and showed no sign of being scared or intimidated by the red-masked turtle's anger.

"You heard what I said," he answered. "You're a fool to believe that being and acting like the Purple Dragons would make us better and stronger than them, let alone have them leave Murakami-san alone."

"Really...?" Raph stated, not sure if he'll be able to hold back the urge to strike down his brother and start another fight to prove himself to be the better ninja than the blue-masked turtle. "And what makes you say that, Leo?" Resisting the urge to shake his head, facepalm himself or letting out a sigh, the eldest turtle calmly answered the red-masked turtle's question.

"They're a gang, Raph, and if there's one thing about gangs, is that many of them have alliance and part of a higher class connection to dangerous people. What else? they've been told about us, meaning whoever told them about our existence, most likely means that the Purple Dragons are allies or most likely workers to the Foot Clan." The four teenagers' eyes widen in horror from Leonardo's words, with Mr. Murakami also sensing a sign of danger in the air from the mentioning of the Foot Clan that Leo brought up. The turtle then got out of his seat and stood face-to-face with Raph, who still had a stunned look on his face. "And if you want to risk Mr. Murakami's safety by beating them to a pulp and have them get back at us by getting the Foot to clean up their failure, then you're already on your way on being like the Purple Dragons... Maybe even a Foot Ninja." Ignoring the stunned glances of the other teens, Leo turned to the noodle owner, who was putting away the pans into the sink that had helped him make Pizza Gyoza for the turtles. "Can I get my meal to go, Murakami-san? I wish to take the rest to our sensei." With the last pan in the sink, the blind man turned his head towards the direction where he heard Leo's voice from and smiled gently at the turtle.

**"Mochiron** (Of course)**,"** he replied. Feeling out for the boxes that he would have for his customers to take their meals home with underneath the board that he keeps on the right-side of the bar counter, Mr. Murakami slowly and calmly made his way to where Leonardo and Raphael stood next to the counter and the moment he felt the styrofoam feeling of the boxes, he pulled one of the medium-size boxes off of the small stack and quietly handed the box to the eldest turtle.

**"Arigato,"** he thanked the owner. Turning his back to his brother and ignoring the sad expression on Don, Mikey and April's faces when they saw he hadn't eaten one of his own potstickers, Leo silently pushed all of his meal into the styrofoam box and then sealed the box up to prevent the food from falling out. With the styrofoam held within his left-hand, Leo gave Mr. Murakami a respective bow, despite knowing that he can't see him bowing but may be able to sense the turtle showing his respects to him. "Thank you for the meal, Murakami-san. **Heiwana yoru o sugosu** (Have a peaceful night)." Smiling from hearing the appreciation and wishing him for a good night, Mr. Murakami returned the bow back to the turtle, though he did flinched a bit from the bruises he received from trying to defend himself and his shop.

**"Sugu ni kaeru** (Come back soon)**,"** he told the turtle. Making a silent promise to himself to make a quick stop to Mr. Murakami's shop whenever he and his brothers go out on patrol and without another word, Leonardo smiled gently at the kind human before him and quietly made his way out the door.

_You won't be alone for long; the guys and April are going to cut their time they probably planned to stay for longer at the restaurant and catch up to you to be sure you get to the Lair._

Leo's smile immediately went away and to replace the smile was a scowl from the information he gained from his conscience, even when he knew that it was bound to happen.

_'Like I'm actually going to do a runner, with one of my hands holding on to leftovers that I plan to take home to Master Splinter.' _He scoffed, making his way for the nearest manhole-cover that he seen half a block away at the right-side of the noodle shop and next to an alley. _'They should continue on with their friendly night without me; I didn't wanted to come along in the first place. Besides, they'll have loads of fun without me there.'_

_Even if that were true, April looked a bit upset and disappointed when you walked right out the door. It would appear that she planned the whole thing so that you could spend time with her and your brothers._

_**She-Pup April's heart in right place, but decision on wanting to earn Pup's trust isn't correct.**_

The turtle's eyes narrowed from the mentioning of the redhead, feeling his heart growing a bit heavy of the guilt for ruining the girl's plan to hang out with the guys.

_'I'll admit, I do feel bad for spoiling her plans.' _He thought to himself, as he leaned down and opened the manhole-cover, after he set aside his box to have both hands to pull the cover off of its place. _'However, that doesn't change the fact that I never intended to remain present for the whole evening plan she arranged or that I don't regret on cutting our time short.'_

"Hey, Leo, wait up!" Mikey's voiced called out to the eldest turtle, who didn't bother to turn to see his brothers and April heading for his way, when he can hear the sound of footsteps making their way towards him. Rather then listen to his youngest-brother, Leo reached for the styrofoam-box that still held his untouched food and, with no hesitation jumped down the hole of the street.

_'But that doesn't matter right now. What does matter, is about the Purple Dragons. Whether I had finished the leader off or not, they'll surely return to get back at Murakami-san. And right now, I'm having a hunch that they're going to be informing someone from the Foot Clan about us, which I'm guessing it's going to be Bradford and that Brazilian-human that helped him tie up Mikey from our last encounter.'_

_Brazilian? How did you figure out that the human working with Bradford is Brazilian?_

_'Simple: His accent while he was speaking in English, for the short reason, but it's more from the way he fought us; it's Capoeira, a Brazilian martial art that combines elements of dance, acrobatics and music.'_

_"Dance", and "Music"? Is it some sort of game?_

_'Sort of, a while back. It's actually known for quick and complex moves, using mainly power, speed, and leverage for a wide variety of kicks, spins, and highly mobile techniques.'_

_Really... Sounds like a combination of Mikey and Raph __performing such fighting stance._

Leo smirked at the connection between the Brazilian martial art and how Mikey and Raph sort of relates to it.

_'Yeah, it does. Though, it sounds more to Mikey's level than Raph, but I can't actually see him trying to attempt on doing such attacks like the human did.'_

"Leo, slow down!" Mikey's voice echoed throughout the tunnels of the sewers, which was then replaced by the sounds of his screams and certain items being knocked around by something. The sounds then ended with a crash, followed by a groan from Mikey and a "You're an idiot" from Raph. In response from the sound, Leo face palmed himself.

_'I swear, I feel like I'm going to have to repeat myself, like some broken record, to remind them to be quiet and for Mikey to pay attention where he's going.'_

The Lair eventually came into view, where the turtle then quietly made his way to the kitchen and placed the Pizza Gyoza inside the fridge to keep them fresh and cool, before heading for his bedroom and locking the door. At the same time, Leo heard his brothers and April's footsteps entering the Lair as well, with a new pair of steps making its way to the living room and towards the group of steps, which the turtle knew to be Splinter.

_**"My sons, and April, how was your evening? Did it went as well as it was planned to be?"**_ The only replies the humanoid-rat gained and from what Leo could hear, was a scoff from Raph, an _**"Uh... Sort of?"**_ from Mikey, a disappointing sigh from April, and _**"Not exactly, Sensei."**_ from Don. Leonardo knew instantly that Splinter isn't going to be thrilled to hear that his eldest-son just cut their activity short, once the guys and April tells him what just happened at Mr. Murakami's noodle shop.

_'If I get in trouble, which I'm probably am, then oh well.' _He thought to himself, as he made his way towards the center of his room and sat down in a Lotus position. _'I'm already used to taking the blame and accepting the punishment, that it's not really a big deal to me, anymore. Right now, what I need to focus on is figuring out what we're going to do once the Purple Dragons inform Bradford and his partner of our last known location... We must protect Murakami-san, without becoming like our enemies and the way they fight in order to win.'_

With his back turned to the door and placing his hands resting on his knees, the turtle closed his eyes and did his cleansing breath, going into deep mediation. His mind went totally blank, unresponsive to what's happening within the outside world of his room, as his thoughts fade into nothing but the darkness, one of his few attempts to escape his reality.

**TBC**

* * *

Yes, people, Leo is also Samurai [at least, this Leo is; not sure of the other Leo incarnations. Maybe a little bit of samurai from 2003 Leonardo, but I think that's it.] (his fighting stance and some of his moves are samurai. Heck, even his Katanas appear more samurai-like weapons), not just a ninja. And yes, Bushidō is a code of honor for samurai (I looked it up), which does make Leo half-ninja and half-samurai, with a possibility of him being the only samurai in the family and the only one following the Bushidō code (unless Splinter has his share of being samurai in the past back in Japan).

And yes, in my story, Raph is the second tallest of the turtles and is taller than Leo. The Fish Pizza, I made that stuff up and I advise you to not try and make it (I may not know what it would taste like, but I doubt it would be appetizing. So, it would be best not to try it). And yes, google translate left me with that and I'm not sure if that's the actual right translation or not.

And before you ask me or those who're wondering... NO! This won't have any Leoril [Leo x April] (I don't know what their couple name is), only sibling moments!

R&amp;R


	6. Disobey a Leader's Order, And you Suffer

**Outside of Leo's Room...**  
"My sons, and April, how was your evening? Did it went as well as it was planned to be?" Splinter asked the four teens, smiling in hope that their plan to simply hang and not get into any fight for just one night has gone successful. However, from the look of anger on Raphael's face, a confused Michelangelo, an uncertain Donatello and an upset April, tells the humanoid-rat that their plan wasn't as it was supposed to go. Rather than to say something out loud or explain to what happened, Raph scoffed out a small "Yeah, right..." before making his way towards the dummy and release some of his anger out on. Mikey, not sure on what to say, rubbed the back of his head with his right-hand and stared down to the floor.

"Uh... Sort of?" He said, though he knew that wasn't really the best answer to tell Splinter. April, still feeling upset and a little hurt, let out a deep sigh and folded her arms in front of her chest, staring down at the floor. Having a gut feeling that he's not going to be of any help on talking and wanting to be sure that his eldest brother has indeed returned to the Lair, he quietly excused himself from the group and made his way towards the kitchen. Seeing as he the only one who was gonna have to tell his father, Don finally gave him an answer.

"Not exactly, Sensei." He answered, his Mahogany-brown eyes flashing emotions that tells the humanoid-rat that their plan to get Leonardo to hang out with them wasn't a success at all. "We had a little problem, while we were heading for Murakami-san's noodle shop." Immediately, fear came into the eyes of Master Splinter and has gone into his overprotective state.

"What has happened? Did any of you gotten hurt?" His heart gave out a shutter when he realized that he hasn't seen his eldest-child within the group and immediately had a horrifying feeling that made him too afraid to almost not ask the one question that nearly had him experienced one of his worst fears. "Has Leonardo try to go off on his own?" April can tell from the tone of his voice and the worried look on the fifty year-old's face, that the question he asked about Leonardo is something serious and should give him the right to be afraid if the answer to it was 'yes'. Luckily for him, it isn't going to be the answer or reply he's going to get.

"No, Sensei, he didn't. We saw him going down a manhole after getting his food to go in a box from the noodle shop, which means he probably locked himself inside his room for some alone time." Donatello reassured, putting up both of his hands in front of him to signal his father to stay calm and to not do anything drastic. "And no, none of us has gotten hurt. We just gotten into a fight with a human gang who calls themselves the Purple Dragons. There are only three humans in the gang and weren't that much of a threat, so we've taken care of the problem." Unfortunately, to disagree to his brother's claim, Raphael gave the dummy a roundhouse kick and knocked it off the hook, forcing it to land roughly to the ground.

"Except you're forgetting the part where Leo didn't finish the job on giving their leader a painful lesson on beating up a blind-man, and allowed the Purple Dragons to leave!" Not bothering to pick up the dummy and putting it back on the hook, he made his way towards the group and turned his gaze to stare at his father. "He showed weakness, Sensei. Those guys only understand one language: Fists." He then held out both his fists in front of him, as if to prove a point to his theory.

"What about feet?" Mikey asked, as he made his way back to the group, with the styrofoam-box held in both his hands to show the others that the eldest turtle has returned to the Lair and put their worry at ease. Trying not to let out his anger on his brother for asking a simple question that also adds to what the Purple Dragons also uses to fight or understands besides their fists, the hotheaded turtle let out a deep sigh.

"Yes, Mikey, they understand feet."

"That would make them Bilingual." Don pointed out, acting and being his smart aleck-self when one of his brothers makes a single mistake into their claim.

"Argh!" Frustrated, Raph slapped both his hands on both sides of his head, as if to physically show his brothers how angry he is about the conversation. "The point is we can't go soft on them!" It wasn't a complete hunch, but both Don and Mikey can tell that Leo's talk with their hotheaded brother is still going on through his mind and is most likely fueling the fire and belief to wanna take the humans down as a fairing punishment.

"To show mercy is not soft, Raphael." Splinter calmly told his second-eldest son. "It is a sign of true strength." His words didn't seem to make the red-masked turtle any better or calmer, more annoyed that he's hearing fighting isn't a good way to display dominance and anger rising that his father isn't on his side to what he's speaking from his mind.

_'Seriously? First Leo, lecturing me that we can't act like ruthless as the Purple Dragons, and now Master Splinter is stating Leo's choice is right? How is letting your opponent go show that you're stronger than they are?' _"But, Sensei, they're criminals. This is war!"

"A Daimyo of the sixteenth century once said, 'in times of peace, never forget the possibility of war. In times of war, never forget compassion.'" A small pause of silence went around the group, till Raph spoke out what he thinks to what the Daimyo of the sixteenth century's words feel to him.

"I'm guessing that guy lost a lot of wars." To demonstrate his theory, Splinter swiftly brought his cane up and thrusted it towards the hothead turtle, having the tip of the jade-crusted cane to stop only centimeters away from the throat of Raphael's snout, forcing a gasp of breath when he thought he would be brought down by his sensei, along with having Michelangelo, Donatello and April to backing away from the red-masked turtle in thought of being next. Emerald-green eyes looked up into the reddish-brown eyes of the humanoid-rat, staring into the gaze that held no anger or threat to the teenager.

"You see? Mercy." He then pulled back his cane from his son, only to actually whack him in the arm, as punishment for not truly taking his Words of Wisdom to heart.

"Ow!" Raph yelped out, bringing his right-hand to nurse the dull ache in his left-arm that he knew will probably bruise for a good while. Not wanting to gain another whack from the cane, the turtle decides to speak as calmly as he could to have Master Splinter realize his brother's choice on letting the Purple Dragons go is a mistake. "Okay, look. Compassion is great. But the Purple Dragons are not going to leave Murakami alone, and Leo probably won't have us go out to look for their hideout to teach them a lesson."

"And besides that, how are we gonna track someone down when we can't talk to anybody?" Don added, also feeling that they need to make certain that the humans gets the message to leave Murakami alone, with or without Leonardo's say into what they should do or not do. April knew that the results of the guys going after the Purple Dragons may not go well as they'll want it to go as, but with their leader locked away inside his room and will most likely refuse to have them look for the three men, the teen decides to take matter into her own hands and help out the three remaining turtles.

"Leave that part to me, guys."

* * *

**At the Tidal Wave Fresh Fish...  
**"Excuse me, sir." The owner of the Tidal Wave Fresh Fish, who was simply sweeping away the dust that was collected all over his store's floor, ceased his sweeping and turned to see the redhead teenager standing behind him. "I'm looking for the Purple Dragons."

The chinatown-fishmonger is obviously of Chinese descendant, who appears to be around the same age-group as Murakami or a little bit younger than the noodle shop owner. He has black-hair, wears a grey-shirt that hangs over his thin-form and a low bib overall pants.

From what April has gathered and heard from the street, the fishmonger had been cited with the Purple Dragons, always carrying a large envelope that he always hangs over to the three humans as if exchanging it to prevent something bad from happening to him, and the gang has always struck over to the shop for many nights before going anywhere else, leading to suspicious that their hideout is close by to the Tidal Wave Fresh Fish store. With that being said, there was no doubt in her mind that he should know where the hideout it. Unfortunately, like many people when attacked by gang activities, the fishmonger prefer to not say anything about the Purple Dragons.

"I don't know what you're talking about." April could hear the lie in his voice and the fear held within his brown-eyes, that she couldn't really blame him for lying just so he doesn't get targeted by the gang if they were nearby or heard that their hideout is being given away to some adolescence, school-girl.

_'Okay, April, time to put your Kunoichi-skills to the test... I sure hopes this works.'_ She thought to herself, looking around to be sure she doesn't see anybody nearby to hear in on their conversation and taking a quick glance at the top of the rooftop across the street to see other turtles watching her from below and Raphael giving her a thumbs-up to tell her it's safe for them to continue on."Don't worry, I can protect you. I'm an undercover cop." If she were on her own, she would've face palmed herself for making up such a lie that's too obviously unbelievable. _'An undercover cop? That's the best I could come up with?! There's no way he's going to buy that!'_

"You look like you're sixteen." The fishmonger stated, having doubts that the girl can actually protect him, let alone be an actual undercover cop she claims to be.

_'Just stick with the lie; best to try and confuse him or convince him that I am a cop, than change the story and get him suspicious.' _"I know. I'm really good at this."

She then placed her right-hand on the frozen fishes surrounded by ice, being displayed on how fresh and ready they are for people to come and buy them, which she then accidentally leaned in a bit too much over the fishes and forced most of the fishes to slide out of the ice and onto the pavement of the sidewalk. Blushing in embarrassment, she let out a nervous chuckle and gave him an apologetic smile, though she almost looks as if she meant to do that in order to prove that she's 'really good' at acting and being an teenager in disguise. Nevertheless, he needs to know if she truly claims to be a cop.

"Let me see your badge." Immediately, April finally caught her break and perfect excuse to convince the man she's claiming to be a cop.

"Are you crazy?" She questioned, acting a bit uncomfortable that he would ask to see her badge where anybody around would be able to see her do it if she had a badge. "I can't carry a badge. That would blow my cover." _'Please, take the bait. Just please, take the bait, already!'_

"I suppose that makes sense." An answer to her prayers and a major relief that her plan has worked, April put on a smirk on a smile as the fishmonger told her what he knows about the Purple Dragons and their whereabouts.

Unknown to her and to the turtles, a few pair of eyes and ears had been observing and listening in on the conversation, with one of those pairs of eyes, after the adult told the girl where she would be able to find the place where the gang hangs out, swiftly and silently made its way into a storm drain and makes its way to the one being it knows that'll want to know what's going on.

* * *

**Back at the Lair; Leo's Room...  
**The fifteen minutes mediation session has really helped the turtle to calm his mind and with the outside of his room also gone death silent, Leonardo took this peace and quiet moment to draw into his sketchbook. To the turtle, it's been much too long since he drew into his book, because he now has the role and responsibility to lead his brothers into battle with the Kraang and Foot Ninjas. Now with his brothers and April out of the Lair and Splinter most likely meditating in the Dojo or could possibly be eating the Pizza Gyoza he brought home, the turtle in blue went to drawing one of his artwork.

At this very moment, he has nearly completed the background of New York City. The background and the outlining of the buildings are of black and grey, with the lines of the clouds being drawn out with the black and using the grey as a certain-shade coloring. Once he has finished the background and the shading, will he then use the only two colors into the picture.

_You're not worried about the guys out on their own in the city? What if something happens to them?_

Usually, when being mentioned about his brothers probably causing mischief and would need his help, Leo would let loose a growl and would bang his head against the wall to distract himself from the anger building up until he let out enough of his anger to control the rage building up inside of him, which usually ended up with his forehead bleeding and having to go to the bathroom to wash away the blood off his face and mask. However, since the meditation has helped him to calm down, he simply let out a deep sigh and continue on with coloring some of the building grey.

_'They can take care of themselves if they get into trouble,' _he thought to himself. _'They don't need me around all the time to solve their problems, like back when we were younger. Besides, they're probably out to continue their time to have fun that I've already had them miss. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if they went back to Murakami-san's Noodle Shop to get more Pizza Gyoza.' _Just by thinking of the name of the pizza dumplings the noodle shop-owner made cause his stomach to growl for food, though it also made his stomach feel a bit sick from the thought of it being the very food his brothers crave for.

_You may be right on that, but that doesn't mean that it won't happen. Father made you leader, so that you would not only lead your brothers on the battlefield, but to also to protect your brothers and to watch over them._

The color pencil in his hand lifted off of the paper, shaking and nearly to the point to breaking in half from the turtle trying to not let his anger consume him.

_'Sensei may have made me leader, but he did **not** made me be their keeper.'_ He let loose a growl and his eyes narrowed with disgust from the thought of the word that reminds him that he can never gain his freedom, even if he and his brothers were to take care of one of the few actual reasons he can't leave his family._ 'In fact, I don't have to always be their for them if I don't want to when I know that they can take care of themselves.'_

_**Pup not incorrect; Omega-Brothers and Beta-Brother can't always have Pup be there for them in times of trouble or peace. Kins no longer pups, despite still being too young to be off on own, and have been trained by Alpha to defend and protect selves... Alpha may have placed Pup as leader of team and to protect Kin, but did not place Pup to keep constant eye on Kins when not engaged in battle.**_

Leo smirked at the words his instincts just said to him, bringing him some ease and comfort that at least somebody, even if that somebody isn't a person but is either a voice or an actual instinct, understands what he's getting at.

_'And this is why I prefer to listen to my instincts much more than my __conscience, especially when the situation isn't involved to an actual fight.' _He then placed the tip of his colored pencil back on the paper, quickly shading in the side of a building before his conscience will once again blind him in rage with another of its suggestions or words of wisdom.

_Sorry for trying to make you see reason and see which is the best decision for you to choose, for the sake of your family and their safety._

Setting both the color pencil and sketchbook down, Leo stood up from his bed and made his way towards the other side of his bedroom, standing in front of the dresser that stood in front of the wall that held no pictures or posters. As quick as a whip that lashes out onto its victim, he brought his right-hand out to form it into a fist and punched it against the wall, leaving a small crater into the hard surface of his wall.

_'And by "best decision", you mean keep me in place to prevent me from gaining my freedom and to be forever bound to the Pack.' _He thought to himself, pulling his hand away from the dented hole in the wall and letting his blood from the wound on his hand to spill and drip onto the floor. "I knew that I should've left the Pack before I finished recovering from the fight with the Albino Crocodile I had five years ago, rather than staying here and to be constantly watched over by the guys and Sensei." He whispered softly to the empty silence of his room, letting loose a low growl that slowly grew into a low snarl.

_You know very well why you didn't leave them back then!_

_'Uh, yeah, because you wouldn't stop __guilt-tripping me that I'm hurting my family and will wound them even more if I runaway again, while I'm still healing, and that it was my fault Raphael nearly gotten himself killed by the Albino Crocodile!'_

_Which is true, for he wouldn't have any reason to be in the Crocodile's territory if you didn't leave the Lair!_

And just like that, after hearing the last sentence, Leonardo could no longer hold back: He snapped.

"SHUT UP!"

Just like that, his patience broke and with no thought or thinking, the turtle bashed his head against the wall of the crater, _hard_. The dent in the wall grew and new cracks were formed into the brick-cement wall from the powerful force Leonardo used to have his head be able to damage the hard-structure of the wall. With now both his hand and head bleeding and a major crater in the wall caused by both head and hand, the turtle remain trapped in his own little world within his room. Gasping for breath to calm his raging heart and feeling the stream of blood coating his mask and straps and staining the floor and dresser with his red-liquid life of blood, he pulled his head away from the crater he made and pulled up the top drawer of his dresser. Inside, laid a few extra spares of blue-masks and a bunch of rolled up straps, which he held on to for just in case the mask and straps he wears were to ever tear off or hold something that would worry his family and give away what he's been doing without their consent.

Letting out a major deep sigh, he reached for a blue-mask at random and grabbed for a smaller-roll of straps, while closing his eyes to prevent blood from getting into his vision and, after removing it from his face, used his now blood-stained mask to wipe away the blood off his face and the floor, before applying it to the wound to make the bleeding stop sooner.

"You don't have to keep reminding me on what almost happened, when I was able to prevent it from happening." He whispered, breathing through his mouth than his nose, for wanting to avoid smelling the scent of iron his blood carries. "Even if it was me that had Raph to invade the Albino Crocodile's territory, at least he was able to escape and not sustain any form of injury from the croc's claws or fangs."

_Even so, you still brought him to danger and at this very moment, your brothers are probably going to get spotted and Father will-_

_'Do you **want** me to snap, again?'_ Leo interrupted, his anger once again building up and his patience already reaching its breaking point. _'__Keep this up, and I'll go on a rampage and get another lecture from Sensei for interrupting his alone time.'_ Silence followed suit and immediately, the anger died down. _'Thank you...' _He didn't need to wait long for the bleeding to finally stop and after wiping away any more traces of blood on his face, he wrapped the mask around his right-hand and then put on his new mask over his face. "Now, if there are no more interruptions..."

_**Tap! ~Scrape~ Tap! ~Scrape~ Tap! ~Scrape~**_

Leo almost didn't hold down a groan when the sound of his door shaking from somebody on the other side prevented him from going back to drawing.

"And of course, that's too much to ask." He muttered, slowly making his way towards the door. "What is it, you guys? I'm not in the mood for whatever plans you guys want to do?" _'Also, when did they get back? I didn't hear them come in and they're always noisy when returning to the Den... Maybe I was too focused on the conversation I was having with my conscience or perhaps it was tending to my wounds that distracted me from hearing them out... God, I hope they didn't listen in on my conversation.'_

**_**Tap! ~Scrape~ Tap! ~Scrape~ Tap! ~Scrape~**_**

The sound the door was making, rather than the usual heavy knocks from his brothers or their usual shouting behind the metal-door, sounded like small but sharp-claws scraping into the hard materiel, which the turtle knew it doesn't belong to any of his brothers or his sensei.

_'If it ain't the guys, nor Splinter, and that kind of tapping can't actually come from April... Then who's that knocking my door?'_

**"Leo! Danger! There is danger! Hurry!"** Leo knew instantly who that voice belongs to and, with no sound of his sensei nearby or the arrival of his brothers and April to return from the surface, the blue-masked turtle opened his door just enough for the owner of the voice to come in, which turned out to be a rat that Leo knows very well in the sewers.

"**Seafra***! What are you doing here? Is there something going on with the Colony?" He questioned the dark-brown and white rat, who looks to be having trouble grasping the right words to tell the turtle why he came to the Lair. Holding out his uninjured hand, Leo allowed the rat to climb into his palm and be lifted up to get on the turtle's left-shoulder and rest on his dark-smooth skin.

**"Colony no danger! Leo's Pack in danger! Brothers in danger!" **He exclaimed, still trying to get his breath back but already starting to breath easier. Leo's eyes narrowed at what his little-friend just said, even when the creature hasn't regained his breath.

"What do you mean that the guys are in danger?" He then stared at the door, still left open only wide enough for rats or smaller to be able to get into his room. "Where are **Valerio* **and **Kyra***?" Once the rat finally caught his wind and no longer gasping, did he finally gathered his thoughts to what to say.

**"They're following your brothers,"** the rat answered. **"While ****scavenging for food from the tunnels, we saw your brothers and a human-girl heading for the surface, without you accompanying them. We knew you would be with them against your will when your Alpha orders you to keep an eye on your brothers, but when we saw you not with them, we knew and sensed that you stayed at the Den to calm your anger, so we followed." **The rat then sat up, sitting on its hind-legs and cocking its head to the side to show confusion. **"They said something about finding Purple Dragons. Do you know what they mean about finding purple, mythical creatures?" **Just hearing the name that ticked him off earlier tonight raised the fire within his heart and allowed the anger he had to spike back up.

**"Nani** (What)**?"** He growled, which the rat knew from his tone of voice that he and his siblings were right that Leonardo's brothers are in danger, along with having to greatly make the turtle mad as heck. "They're above the surfacing, looking for the Purple Dragons, at this very moment?" The fur on **Seafra's** back slightly spiked up, feeling the cold chill going down his back in knowing what he's about to tell the humanoid-wolf/turtle isn't going to make him very happy at all.

**"Well, uh... Actually, Leo... A human senior of a fish store told the human-girl your brothers were with and... Well, told them where the Purple Dragons are hiding at."**

* * *

**Ten Minutes Later, at the Old Chinatown Tattoo Company...**  
"For all the arrogant, stupidest decisions they have to make...!" He snarled to himself, skidding to a halt and standing on top of the roof of a building that's right next to where his rat-friend told him where his brothers are told to where the gang hangs out. Panting out to catch his breath, his eyes scanned out the area, mostly at the shadows, for any signs of his brothers or a gang member of the Purple Dragons.

_Before you do anything when you find your brothers, why don't you try and calm dow-?_

_'"Calm down"? You want me to **CALM** Down?!'_ He yelled in his thoughts, baring his teeth and letting out growls of frustrations when he couldn't find any sight of his brothers in his vision. _'Have you forgotten what **Seafra** just told me?! My brothers ignored my words, disobey my **order**, to not go after the gang, and are most likely making things worse if they'd already found the Purple Dragons hideout! What else?! April helped them on their little scheme to teach the humans a lesson for beating up a person, which she had no business or right to butt in with our mission!'__  
_

_She's now a Kunoichi, which makes her part of the team and an active member of the mission._

_'She's just a trainee, meaning she isn't a Kunoichi! Let alone an actual member of the team!'_

_Even if she is a trainee, she's still a Kunoichi and is part of the team, whether you accept that facts or not!_

_'And who said that she's part of the team?! If I recall, for the past several weeks, Master Splinter has never allowed her to come into our missions when in fights with the Kraang or the Foot! He keeps her within the Lair whenever we're off fighting for the city to train her and the only time she does interact into the mission, is during recon or for entail!' _He then stomped his foot into the edge of the roof, forcing part of the drip edge that's been installed to the edge of the roof to loose some of its shank nails and to bend in an odd angle. _'From what I see, she has the usefulness as a carrier pigeon!'_

**_Pup, despite She-Pup not truly proving self and Pup not having any more reason to trust She-Pup April, She-Pup has neither passed or failed test. Yes, what She-Pup did is downright _****_rebellious and irresponsible, but was able to be great use to Kins by getting information, without blowing cover or acting suspicious to the human who told She-Pup where the Curl-Tail humans have been spotted. Even helped out on some fights from previous fights._**

Leonardo's eyes narrowed from what his instincts has informed of him, distracting him from part of the anger he has bottled within the depths of his heart and soul for so long for a brief moment to think about what his instinct has informed him about.

**_May not be part of test **_She-Pup April_** must pass to earn trust, but does show sign She-Pup be of great use to Pack, once She-Pup completes training and allowed to fight along side Team. Until then, Pup must be patient with She-Pup and give time until She-Pup pass or fails the test._**

Now in his trains of thoughts, Leo stared up to look at the sky, where the stars stood out dimly in the night sky and the crescent moon giving off little lighting of the twilight day. The wind blew against his face, which the turtle took in a deep breath that calmed his mind and cooled his abnormal body heat from his caged anger of his entire being. The turtle knew that his instinct is right, that he must give the human more time and wait for her to pass or fail his test before he truly judge her of her actions, but that didn't mean it has solved the problem on what his brothers did and are doing at this very moment.

**"Leo! Over here!"** A small voice called out, drawing the turtle out of his moment of thoughts to see two rats, a pure-white rat and a blackish-grey rat, waving for him a few buildings north-east from where he stood, in front of a rooftop water tower.

_'We'll talk about this later. Right now, just keep quiet on the conversation and I promise to not go hard on my brothers when we get home.' _With that being said and not carrying if anybody were to see, Leonardo ran on all four over the tops of the building and soon stood in front of the two rats who're siblings to **Seafra**. "**Valerio**, **Kyra**, my brothers aren't at the tattoo place that **Seafra** informed me they would be at from what the human had told April where the Purple Dragons would be at. Where are they?" The white-rat, a little female, ran up his arm and sat on the right-side of his shell, for he still stood on all four just in case his brothers are in another location that could be far away from where he's at.**  
**

**"They were here, Leo." **She informed the blue-masked turtle. **"A slim human, who wears black-leather clothing and has purple mythical creature on arm, came out of tattoo shop and went into abandoned Fortune Cookie Factory."**

**"Your brothers followed the human and went inside of building, just a few minutes ago, but they'd not came out of building." **The blackish-grey rat, a male, cut in to the conversation, as he now stood on the ledge of the roof they stood on and pointed a paw towards the building across from where they are. **"Soon after they went inside, strange humans who all wore black clothing that even covered their faces and had red-bandana with a foot-symbol on their forehead burst through the factory from both sides of the building."**

In front of the building, is a big sign that has a giant fortune cookie in the center of the sign and covered in dust, meaning this place hasn't been of use in years. 'Killer Cookie, Fortune Cookie Co.', the words spelled out. Leonardo doesn't know much of this place, but he had heard rumors from the pigeons and crows that the Fortune Cookie Factory was immediately condemned after the company had failed the health inspections when rats were found in the building.

At the front of the building, the turtle could see a big hole has just been made in one of the windows, a sign that tells him his brothers caused the hole to appear. leaning in over the ledge and placing both his hands on the ledge beside **Valerio**, he can hear crashing sounds and grunts of pain coming from inside the building, along with the sound of metal striking and hitting against steel or wood collapsing and breaking from brute force slamming into them. Leo's eyes narrowed and, after taking in a few sniff at the building, let loose a low growl when he caught the scent of the Foot Ninjas, Bradford and the Brazilian human, slowly turning into a snarl of rage when his hearing would catch the sound of his brothers grunting or groaning in pain.

"Anybody else from the Colony in there, or are you two and **Seafra** the only ones who followed my brothers?" He asked, hoping that none of his rat-friends are caught in the middle of the fight and getting hurt at this very moment.

**"Nobody else came with us. We were the only three to investigate what your siblings were doing." ****Valerio** answered, eyes also narrowing in anger towards the turtle's brothers for coming up such a stupid plan that'll get them killed if the eldest-brother doesn't do something to save their lives, again.

**"The rest of the Colony are still within the sewers, and are ****scavenger group are still out searching for food at the alleys." ****Kyra** added, nuzzling her little-head against Leo's right-cheek and hopping into his left-hand when he brought it up to place her off of him.

"Good," he grunted. "You two head on back to the Colony, and be sure to warn the scavenger group to not go to the Fortune Cookie Factory." He reached for one of his Katanas, Musashi, and tightened both hands on the hilt and clenching his teeth together. "I'll take care of the Foot." **Valerio **and **Kyra** stared at one another, knowing that it wouldn't be wise to not do as their reptilian-friend told them to do if their lives would be on the line if they were to join him in the fight or get in the way. And so, without the turtle having to look, both rats turned to leave. Before joining her brother to go down a drainpipe, **Kyra** turned back to stare at her friend.

**"Be careful, Leo." **She spoke softly to the blue-mask turtle and soon vanished within the drainpipe as a shortcut to go down the building, heading for the Colony to pass on the message to her family.

Now standing on the ledge and his hands keeping a firm grip on Musashi, Leonardo made no hesitation to prepare himself to launch himself through the hole of the window and, when catching the sound of a blade being raised in the air, didn't hold back on his strength when he swiftly went through the hole and now stood in front of Raphael, blocking two sets of Butterfly Knives held by the Brazilian human.

"Leo!" Raph cried out, trying to catch his breath while leaning against the conveyor belt that stood behind him to get air back to his lungs.

Not bothering to reply back to his brother, Leonardo simply kept his attention on the human in front of him and, using just enough of his strength, shoved him back, forcing the Brazilian to skid backwards to the second conveyer belt. At that moment, two Foot Ninjas came down from the upper-floor and aimed their swords at the blue-masked turtle, who immediately grabbed for Kamiizumi and blocked both attacks at both sides. He then pushed his blades down, thus forcing the ninjas to lean down with their weapons, and then thrust himself forward, jabbing both hilts of his blades against the humans' throat and forcing them to the ground to catch their breaths.

"Well, look who finally decided to join us." The Brazilian human stated, picking himself off the conveyer belt and twirling his Butterfly Knives like Raph would do with his Sais. Seeing the two ninjas won't be getting back up until they can catch their breath, Leonardo turned his attention back to the human he pushed away from his younger-brother and himself. "We were just wondering when you would be joining your brothers to their deaths, after you would tell us where your master is." The blue-masked turtle glared at the Brazilian human, letting loose a low growl at the mentioning of his sensei and planning to take the lives of his brothers.

_They came to the Purple Dragons to figure out where to find you and where to look for Father... Your brothers just handed themselves over, without bothering to check or see if the Foot would actually show up._

_'Well, of course they just handed themselves over; they were too focused on wanting to teach the Purple Dragons a lesson on beating up Murakami-san and to be sure they get the message to leave him alone, that they didn't even bother to head my warning that the gang is allied with the Foot Clan or to even use their senses to be sure the gang was completely alone.' _"What business do you have with our sensei, human?"

"The name is Xever, turtle." The Brazilian, now known as Xever, corrected his new opponent. "And what our master has in store for your sensei, is his fate ready to be sealed, like it should've been fifteen years ago." His Butterfly Knives once again twirled within his grasp, the blades ready to slice and rip open flesh or block attacks however their user wants them to be used as. "Prepare to become turtle soup, Reptilian."

_'Oh? He likes to do insults, does he?' _Leo let out a smirk, knowing exactly what to say to the human before him. _'Okay, I'll give you an insult or two that he won't ever forget.'_

"We'll see about that, **Macaco***" Bradford, who had pinned both turtles to the conveyer belt, turned his attention away from his opponents and stared awestruck at what the blue-masked turtle just said to Xever. And speaking of the Brazilian, his eyes widen at the last word to the sentence his opponent just referred to him as.

"...What did you just say to me?" He questioned softly, slowly tightening his grip on his Butterfly Knives. Leo, seeing the reaction, simply snickered.

_**Pup has Brazilian human walking into trap. Keep it up, Pup. Get human more angry to have rage blind him.**_

"You heard what I said," he answered. "Since you decided to come up with an insult for me, I thought we should keep it even by giving you an insulting name, too. And hey, it was either that, or **Macaquito*** and you're _way_ too tall to be called that, unless you used to be a **Macaquito **when you used to be a child."

Raphael, who finally caught his breath and holding off a Foot Ninja by using his sais to grab hold of the ninja's sword, simply stared in confusion at what his brother just said to Xever, while Donatello and Michelangelo chose to take the opportunity to break free from how distracted their enemy is at the moment. The human before Leo began to take the bait on getting angry, as he grind his teeth together and his trembling from the extending tightening to his knives in his hands. Xever no longer sees a reason to hold back or to play games with the turtles, for he's now seething in rage and, after kicking two of the Foot Ninjas aside, charged at the turtle.

"**Como você se atreve** (How dare you)**!**" He blurted out, jabbing both knives towards the turtle, who caught the two knives by crossing his Katanas together in front of him and simply leaned back against the conveyer belt, keeping on the smug grin on his face. "WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO MAKE A MOCKERY OF MY PEOPLE?!" When he leaned in forward to push down as much as he could for his Butterfly Knives to try and sink into flesh, basically the turtle's face, Leonardo caught him off guard by using both knees to lift the human off the ground and flinging him towards the wall.

"Hit a nerve, did I?" He questioned the Brazilian, who got back to his feet and taking in raging breath like a bull at a rodeo would do when ready to kill whatever in front of it moves. "Well, if you don't like me calling you by either of those names, then how about **Tifuti***? Does that sound a whole lot better to you?" Xever ceased his deep rage breathing for a full two-seconds, then he let out a roar cry and charged at the turtle.

"I'M GOING TO SKIN YOU ALIVE, **MUTANTE** (Mutant)!"

Xever got on the conveyer belt and leap into the air, the blades of his knives aiming down to tear into Leo's arms to prevent the turtle from defending himself while he's withering in pain and at his mercy, until a great force swiftly rammed into him and sent the both of them towards a stack of crates. Said mass that rammed Xever to the now destroyed crates, turned out to be Raphael, who rolled himself off to the side and grabbed for his fallen Sais, while trying to get back up and fight off against three Foot Ninjas. Donatello and Michelangelo, who had been able to free themselves from Bradford's grip, were now being pinned into the wall by a couple of Foot and waiting for Bradford to reclaim his hold on the two youngest-turtles, which they're still making it hard for him to do from them breaking free from the ninjas' hold and twirling their weapons all around them to shield themselves from the enemy's grip.

The Purple Dragons, who are covered in bruises and having a few scratch marks that bled on their skin, merely hid themselves behind the giant wooden figure and watch the fight continue on. One of the Purple Dragons, the one Leonardo had allow to leave Murakami's noodle shop after pinning him in defeat, held gaze of fear when their eyes met each other's gaze, thinking that the turtle is going to come after him and his group, like his younger brothers just did before the Foot came to assist Bradford and Xever.

Usually, when he sees an enemy, Leo would make no hesitation to attack those who are the cause to harm his family and/or innocent people. However, because the human had showed his submission to the leader in their last encounter at the noodle shop and isn't the actual threat at this very moment, the turtle knew picking a fight with him and his gang won't stop the battle anytime soon, which isn't turning out so well for the three younger-brothers.

_'We can't stay here any longer,' _he thought to himself. _'The guys are getting too tired to keep going and, judging from the bruises they're getting, won't be able to defend themselves much longer.' _At that thought, he made a quick beeline towards the three Foot overpowering the hotheaded turtle and rammed all three of them against the wall, forcing the hilt of Musashi into jabbing a Foot's right-shoulder to dislocate the bone and thrust his left-knee against another's leg to damage it just enough to give the ninja a broken leg.

**_Pup, get Omega-Brothers and Beta-Brother out of Purple Dragon den, then stay behind to fight back and hold enemies off, to allow Kins to make it back to Den._**

_No! Get your brothers and leave the fight! There's too many of them and you can't hold off both Bradford and Xever on your own! You can barely hold one of them off on your own the last time you fought them, let alone the both of them at the same time!_

_'I'm going with my instinct's plan; I don't run from fights that has my family's life on the line, even if the odds are against me.' _Leo thought to himself, as he turned his attention to Xever, who slowly came out his dazed-state from the shattered wood-pieces of the crates he still laid in.

_NO! You must leave with your brothers! NOW! If you get captured, your brothers will come after the Foot! And if that happens, they'll __probably end up getting caught in the Shredder's trap, which will then force Father to save you all and end up getting himself killed!_

_'My brothers may be idiots to come up with a stupid plan to attack the Purple Dragons, without scoping the area for Foot Ninjas, but they no better than to go against my orders once I tell them to head back to the Lair and to not comeback for me, while I hold off the enemies.'_

_Which they'll then ignore your orders, like when you told Raph why you wish to not find the Purple Dragon's hideout in the first place, and the four of you will still be held captive until Father shows up! Either way and whichever choice you make, will end up putting the whole family in danger!_

Leo kneeled beside Raphael, who kept on insisting that he's alright and can keep fighting, while glaring up towards the upper-floor of the factory when he heard Mikey and Don letting out cries of pain when Bradford finally grabbed them and thrust them down to the bottom floor and on top of the conveyer belt.

_Deep inside, you know that you and your brothers are losing the fight. If you four wish to see another day and if you want to be a day closer for your freedom, then put aside your instinct to fight and leave the battle until you four are completely prepared for it._

He wasn't too thrilled that his conscience is making him give up a fight and to not even try to give his brothers enough time to get away from the fight, but he knew that it was right. As such, even if he despises it with all of his hate, the turtle must listen to his conscience.

_'_**_Chikushō_** (Damn it)_**!**' _He cursed out in his mind. _'Why, in situations like this, does my conscience have to make me become so weak?!'_ "Turtles, fall back!" He called out to his brothers, sheathing up Musashi and Kamiizumi and helping Raph to his feet, who had to use the wall on his right to keep him up, before launching himself in the air and giving Bradford a good old mid-air three sixty kick to the face. The force of the kick was strong enough to send Bradford hurtling towards the new group of Foot Ninjas that made another hole in the building and land at an alley, giving the turtles the perfect chance to make their escape.

"We're giving up? Again?" Raph questioned his brother, catching a Foot's sword with his sai and doing a crescent kick to force the ninja to the ground. "You kidding me?!" Placing the injured genius turtle over his shoulders and getting Mikey to get on the back of his shell, who had to wrap his arms and legs tightly over Leonardo's chest and abdomen area of his plastron, the blue-masked turtle turned to stare at the red-masked turtle and give him deadly glare.

"Raphael, if you want to live long enough to properly yell at me, then clamp your beak shut and get us out of here, before I personally shut your beak up for you!" He yelled, keeping a firm grip to keep Donatello over his shoulder with both his hands and sneaking a quick glance on Michelangelo to be sure he doesn't start sliding off of his body from behind. Seeing that he has no choice but to listen and obey his brother's command, Raphael lead them up the stairs, at the same time barreling in to any Foot that chose to get in his way and soon had them out of the building by jumping through the hole in the window that he and his younger-brothers made when they chose to make their appearance by charging in.

_"Hey! Stay and fight, **você covardes sangue frio** (you cold-blooded cowards)**!**"_

Xever's voice called out to the turtles, angering the blue-masked turtle into almost ditching his brothers to continue the fight with the Foot. However, because he's carrying two of his brothers on his back and shoulder at the same time, it's already taking up a lot of his energy to keep up with Raph and to not stumble back or to the ground when pushing himself to leap over the gaps of the buildings and landing on to the next rooftop. Leo would've gladly handed Don or Mikey over to Raph, which he's thinking on handing Mikey over because on how heavier he is than Don, but the red-masked turtle is already having trouble to keep himself steady and to not let his body collapse in mere exhaustion.

Skidding to a halt to catch his breath and letting Raph to lean over the ledge to get a few moments of breathing, Leonardo scanned his eyes down at the alley below them, immediately catching the sight of a manhole-cover, their ticket back to the Lair.

"Raph, Mikey! Manhole-cover, down below!" He gasped out, removing his right-hand, that's been keeping Don's legs from kicking his and Mikey's head or sliding his shoulders, to tap the orange-masked turtle and signal him to get off his shell.

"Ah, good! Finally!" Raph grunted out, sliding Mikey's left-arm over his own shoulders to help him down the fire escape ladder, while Leo chose to jump down from the ledge of the roof, landing on the hard pavement of the road and wincing from his legs taking a major impact from the heavy deadweight of his purple-masked brother. Shaking the pain off, the turtle stood over the manhole and kept an eye out for any humans that would dare to come there way, until Raphael finally removed the cover and all four of them made their way inside the sewers for the Lair.

**TBC...**

* * *

I'm going to be skipping a few episodes and going on with other episodes into the stories, with some of the skipped episodes to be recorded into Leo's Journal or mentioned later on into the story (or not be mentioned at all, give or take). Also, I have no idea what that giant wooden person that the Purple Dragons have are called (may need some help on that, or will take me awhile to figure it out).

Seafra*: Seafra is Irish for "Peace from God".

Valerio*: Valerio is Italian and Latin meaning "Valiant".

Kyra*: Kyra is Latin, American and Greek that means "Light".

Macaco*: The Argentinians call Brazilians "macacos" (monkeys in Brazilian Portuguese language) because they are more racially mixed. Specially used in soccer confrontations [I don't like, nor support, Racial Slurs, but I have to get Leo to make Xever angry by calling him something that gets on his nerve].

Macaquito*: The Argentinians call Brazilians "macaquitos" (little monkeys) because they are more racially mixed [Again, need Leo to make Xever angry, despite my disproval of the racial slur].

Tifuti*: Black Brazilians. Word for "#*&amp;&amp;*%" in Brazil [Trust me, you don't want to know what this word means and I advise you to never, and I mean NEVER, NO MATTER WHAT, use this word at all (And that goes for the other words before this one!).].

Sorry for the long wait you guys and for my story seeming a bit off; just been tired a lot and have to finish up the first part of college. Also, my mom's been pestering me on what classes to take for next semester, and both she and her boyfriend won't shut up about the driving/getting license/car issue; it's really giving me a headache, getting on my nerve and I'm about ready to snap (I hate cars, don't like driving [I also get nervous when behind the wheel, especially when it's a shift gear] and prefer to get around places by either foot, bike or horse. However, living in the mountains that's twenty to thirty minutes away from town by car, isn't gonna allow me to do either of the three options).

R&amp;R


	7. What Happened?

**Back at the Lair...  
**Master Splinter, who had finished his meditation session just minutes ago, paced himself within the living room, sensing something very wrong has become of his sons. He wasn't sure what it was, but he could feel that something isn't right with the team and that a great anger has befallen on one of his children, which, surprisingly, isn't Raphael this time. And already, the wise rat has a hunch on who is the one sealing that great anger, but it isn't just from sensing the presence coming to the Lair.

The moment he awaken from his meditation, Splinter sense something wasn't right and that his home has gotten awfully quiet... Well, _quieter_, than it usually gets whenever his three youngest sons go off on their own. Even if his eldest son is the most experienced and most skilled amongst his brothers to accomplished the Art of Invisibility, the rat's strong sense of hearing were to allow him to pick up the sound of his son's shallow breathing or at least a slow-tone beating of a heart from outside of the Dojo. Fearing he'd meditated for far too long to allow the blue-masked turtle enough time to leave the Lair, Master Splinter made a beeline out of the Dojo and to the door of Leonardo's Bedroom, where he found the door left open by a mere crack.

When he allowed himself inside of his son's room, without bothering to knock or call out to his son if he were still in, he was horrified to find the room empty and his son's katanas nowhere in sight.

He wasn't sure how long he was in his meditation or when Leonardo exactly left the Lair, but from what he could guess from how he could feel a very faint heat spot on the bed, it was most likely over ten minutes ago when the turtle chose to leave the Lair, without informing his sensei about it, and is probably above the surface on his own or could be searching for his brothers. Splinter prayed it was the latter. He, himself, would go up to the surface world and search for his sons, but with the Foot Clan also in New York and the Shredder looking for him, the rat has to remain hidden in the sewers and guard the Lair, just in case the Foot would think about searching for their home underneath the city. Even with that sort of knowledge being the only excuse to prevent him from going out to find his sons, the overprotective-father inside of his heart wasn't satisfied by his choice and is demanding the fifty year-old to risk his own safety to go look for his children, his _babies_.

And he almost did and was about to listen to his fatherly-instinct, when his hearing caught the sound of feet heading for the entrance of the Lair and his reddish-brown eyes caught sight of _all four_ of his sons returning to him. Unfortunately, his happiness immediately turned to fear and worry when he saw a barely conscious Donatello being lifted in a fireman's carry position by Leonardo, as Raphael had Michelangelo leaning on him and his arm draped across the hothead's shoulders. Without any hesitation, Master Splinter made his way to his sons at the couch, where Leo gently placed the genius turtle on the couch that gives its sitters better sighting at the opening of the Lair and Raph guided their youngest brother on the other couch that faces towards the direction of the small TV.

As the blue-masked turtle backed away from Donatello and made his way to the kitchen, Master Splinter kneeled in front of his purple-masked son, using his hands to help him on his search to figure out what sort of injuries the genius turtle has sustained, which he eventually found from his examination that the third child is suffering from a sprained right-arm and a mild concussion. Taking a glance to his other two sons, Michelangelo, who laid out on the other couch on his plastron, seems to only be suffering by the simple sores that his shell and plastron had to endure for taking the major blows for him and the bruises on his arms. Raphael, who made his way to the practice dummy, appears to also be bruised a bit and his timing on his kicks were a bit slower, indicating that he pushed his body a bit too far and is having some muscle strains in his legs.

With all the information he gained from the three turtles, their father let out a sigh of relief, happy to see his sons had returned home with unserious injuries and are going to be alright after some rest and a few Shiatsu* sessions, though he'll have to put Donatello on strict bed rest and prevent him from doing anything in his lab that'll cause him stress or strain his brain, which also means he's forbidden to attend training sessions until his concussion is gone.

"What has happened?" Splinter questioned his sons, setting himself on the couch and placing Don's head on his lap, as he begins the Shiatsu session on treating the turtle's head by using the tips of his fingers, minding his claws, and gently did circular-motion on both side of the turtle's scalp. Mikey simply avoided his father's gaze, not wanting to be the one to tell the rat what has happened, for knowing Raph would then cut in and change their story to what they did. Raph simply continued on beating the dummy, ignoring the aches his legs are making him feel. "My sons?" Their father asked again, continuing his Shiatsu method with the genius turtle with the circular-motion but removing his gaze to stare at his other two sons, confused and a little annoyed on them not answering his question.

Hearing the flap of the Noren being pushed aside slightly, He turned his eyes to Leonardo, who came back from the kitchen and held out a small-towel that holds a couple of ice cubes from inside, glaring at Raphael with disappointment and anger spelled out within his deep-blue eyes. Unlike his brothers, the eldest turtle appears to be unharmed and completely fine. However, Splinter knew he wasn't okay on the inside and can sense the raging anger escalating the more Leonardo glared at Raphael and to the rest of his brothers... And he wasn't sure what or why, but he could smell the scent of copper, _blood_ to be exact, coming from the eldest turtle.

"Leonardo, what is the meaning of this?" The rat asked his eldest son, who pulled his gaze away from Raph and made his way to the youngest turtle, gently placing the towel with ice onto one of the biggest bruises Michelangelo has on him, which is on his left-shoulder and slightly concealed by his shell.

"Ask _t__hem_." The turtle muttered out, keeping his gaze on the bruises his youngest brother has on him from being beaten by Bradford. Raphael ceased his punching on the dummy when he heard his brother talk, which made his own anger stir up when he heard the anger and disappointment the eldest turtle has for his brothers. Pushing the dummy aside, the red-mask turtle stomped his way towards his eldest and youngest brother.

"Passing the blame over to us, Fearless?" He questioned, giving him one of his own glares of anger and disappointment, only his gaze has an extra expression into his glare: Despise. Even if the blue-mask turtle isn't making eye-contact to see the despise in his brother's eyes, he can very well sense the anger and spite building up inside the hothead. Not bothering to talk to his brother, Leo continued on gently pressing the towel of ice on Michelangelo's bruised shoulder and refusing to have any eye-contact with either of his brothers or sensei. "What now? You're not going to talk to us?!"

"Raphael, lower your voice." Splinter ordered his son, giving him a firm-glare that tells the hothead to not test his patience, as he continued with his Shiatsu session on the genius turtle. "Donatello has a concussion and the volume of your voice is further wounding your brother. If you wish to discuss the matter with Leonardo but prefer to raise your voice into the conversation, then I would insist that the both of you should take your argument to the Dojo." He then used his left-hand to point a clawed-finger towards the closed Shoji-door of their Dojo, giving both red and blue turtles a stern look to see if they would do as he say or suffer the wrath of their overprotective father. As a response, Leonardo lifted himself off the couch and gave a quick bow of respect to his sensei.

"**Watashi o yurushite **(Forgive me), Sensei, but Raphael and I cannot deal with the matter of our conversation right now. I'm afraid that there's matter I must attend to, at this very moment." Leonardo told the rat, as he turned and made a quick sprint towards the turnstiles, only to stop in his tracks by said hothead, who gave the blue-masked turtle a warning glare and folded his arms in front of his chest.

"And just where do you think you're going, Fearless?" He growled out, though he has a hunch on what his brother's trying to do.

"Wherever that I'm going, is none of your business nor your concern, Raphael, considering you never once care how the outcome would turnout from the effects of your choices and decision making." The eldest turtle answered, which already gotten on the taller turtle's nerve and his anger spike from the challenging glare of his brother is giving to him, as if daring him to stay in his way from leaving their home and swore on giving him a challenge if he chooses to stand in his way.

"Like Shell it ain't my damn business or concern, when you're obviously trying to go off on your own!" Splinter's ears twitched and his tail smacked itself heavily against the couch, glaring at his second-eldest for speaking such language right in his presence and when Michelangelo is in the same room with them.

"Raphael, watch your language!" He ordered the red-masked turtle, not wanting his son to pass on his swearing to the youngest turtle, despite all four of them being quadruplets. "And Leonardo," he turned his head to stare at his eldest. "I gave you no permission or my leave to go, nor do I want an apology, when all I want from you is to tell me what has happened or have both you and Raphael to settle your argument to the Dojo if you don't tell me what has happened." The blue-masked turtle lowered his gaze to the floor, clenching and unclenching his hands to be his source of distraction in order to not let his anger take control on him to yell at his sensei.

_Stay calm. Whatever you do, Leonardo, don't take your anger out on Father._

"Unless somebody will tell me why you four have returned home, injured and bruised, then I cannot allow you to leave, Leonardo."

"As if you and the guys ever let me go off on my own, when it isn't involved with scouting the tunnels or scavenging for supplies." The turtle muttered under his breath, already feeling his patience growing dimmer and dimmer the longer he's forced to stay put in the Lair.

_**Alpha's word is law, Pup.**_

_'"And just like Kins, Pup must follow and obey Alpha's every command"! Stop repeating words and lessons that I already know!' _He yelled in his thoughts. _'I swear, the next person who pisses me off, no matter who it is, I'm not going to hold back and will start yelling! And I won't care how much of a headache it'll be to Donnie, scares Mikey, or how much it'll disappoint Master Splinter!' _And he didn't need to wait that long for the next person to speak up and get him angry.

"What was that, Fearless?" It wasn't what Raphael just ask of him that gotten the blue-masked turtle to get angry, but it was what the red-mask called the eldest-turtle by, which was something Leo has always despised for as long as he could remember ever since his brother started calling him 'Fearless'. And because of his hatred towards that name, his patience finally snapped.

_'...Alright, that does it!' _"First off, Raphael, stop referring to me by 'Fearless'!" Raph, Don and Mikey's eyes widen at their big brother's voice. "And second, if you have a problem on hearing what I just said, then it should tell you that I didn't want you or anybody else to hear what I just said, considering that you three completely ignored my orders to not go looking for the Purple Dragons and nearly gotten yourselves killed by Xever and Bradford!"

"Going to bring that up, again?! Is that the only excuse you have on why you're blaming us for what happened, when _you_ told us to not do a thing about it while _we_ try to do something that we believe would help Murakami-san be safe from the Purple Dragons?!"

Removing Donatello's head off of his lap and placing a pillow for the genius turtle to lay his head on, Splinter pressed the cushion against the turtle's ears to block the sound as much as he could to prevent the concussion from getting any worser, along with allowing him raise his voice and get in with the conversation.

"Michelangelo, cover your ears." He told his youngest son, who appeared to be getting very upset of his two big brothers fighting, again, and seemed to have gotten scared of the eldest-brother raising his voice, but did as his father told him to and grabbed for two pillows to cover his ears. Now with both orange and purple-masked turtles unable to hear, the rat was finally allow to get through his sons. "Leonardo, Raphael, that is enough!" And to get through to the two turtle whenever they fight, is by yelling and scolding.

In most cases to the outcome of their fights or whenever Splinter yells at them to stop, either both turtles would stay quiet as their father told them to, or Raphael would continue on with the yelling and shouting... Which is what he chose to do, even when his master ordered him and his brother to stop fighting.

"But it's the truth, Sensei!" Raph then pointed a finger at his brother. "Leo not only decided to become a coward, but he also made us look weak by having us retreat from a fight! A fight that _he_ caused to happen, if he'd hadn't let the Purple Dragons go or suggested that we don't go looking for their hideout in the first place! If he'd only finished the job, not only would Murakami-san be safe from the Purple Dragons, but Mikey, Don and I wouldn't be coming back bruised up from our fight with the Foot! Heck, we wouldn't go against his orders to not find their hideout, if he wasn't such a terrible leader and the worst brother to have on the team, let alone in this family!"

Donatello, who couldn't hear at the moment but was Lipreading to what Raphael was saying, gasped in shock to what his brother just said. Michelangelo, who can neither hear as well or lip-lead like Don or Leo, simply stared in confusion to what was going on. Splinter was stunned to his son's expression to what he was saying in anger, and Leo... Well, despite widening his eyes a bit, the surprised and stunned look on his face immediately went away and was soon replaced with a blank face, keeping his gaze to the ground and refusing to glance back up at his brother.

_'...I knew it,'_ he thought to himself. _'I knew he always felt that way, and I bet Mikey and Don would think the same thing as well... I knew Master Splinter made the wrong choice on picking me as leader.'_

_You know that Raph doesn't mean it! He always talks out of anger, with no thoughts to what he's saying or how his words hurt you until after he calms down!_

_'Yeah, right. And whenever he loses his temper, again, he does and say the same old thing: He blames me, claims that I never get in trouble and makes up excuses to avoid punishment, and finally he yells on how I'm a terrible brother and will then wish that I wasn't his brother, let alone had never been hatched or ever been made in the first place.' _His heart felt as if something just stung it with venom and is slowly turning it to stone, making it feel as if it's having trouble beating from the numbing pain inside of it.

_**Fights and weapons may leave physical scarring that could implant permanent markings on skin, but words leave emotional and at times mental **_**_scarring, and in most to nearly all cases, their wounds are from mostly to almost always permanent... Alpha told Pup and Kins many times that words can be used as weapons, too, like Pup did to Brazilian-human, and Beta-Brother Raphael knew very well how much he wounds Pup when wishing they were never Kin in the beginning. Unfortunately, Alpha also gave the "Sticks and Stones" lessons many times, without neither items present, having to make Pup and Kins to shrug off the harsh words that leaves wounds much more serious than physical pain and not knowing how to heal properly from the harsh words._**

Raph, feeling incredibly guilty for what he just said after taking major deep breaths and seeing the shocked look on Don and Splinter's faces, felt a pang in his heart when he saw how his words had once again wounded his brother by watching the stunned look in the Cerulean/Sapphire-eyes go blank, meaning that the eldest turtle is pushing back the pain and hiding it deep inside of himself.

_'Oh, god... Not again... I did it, again! Me and my stupid, big mouth and my shell-for-brains__ head!'_

"...On second thought, Sensei, since it seems that nobody here cares on what's going to happen to Murakami-san, I'll tell you what happened." Leonardo's tone of voice was low and cold, but still sounds normal enough for anybody to believe he was alright, if Raph hadn't seen his hurt look being replaced with a blank face to use as a mask to conceal his hurt that his words caused to inflict on the young leader.

"Leo... Bro, I didn't me-" The red-mask turtle tried to apologize, but was cut off by the older turtle.

"Save it, Raphael." He then glared at Michelangelo and Donatello, who kept their eyes on the fight the whole time but were unable to hear what was going on. "Just be quiet for one second and listen up, which means Donatello and Michelangelo need to hear this, as well." He then placed both hands to his head, pretending to hold something to cover his ears, and then pulled them away from his head, silently telling the two to uncover their ears and listen to what he has to say, which the both of them did. "I want you all to listen, and to listen well, because I'm only going to explain myself only once to why I didn't finish off the leader of the Purple Dragons, when I was given the chance to do so."

"Leonardo, perhaps we should discuss this some other ti-"

"**Iie**, Sensei! You wanted to know what happened this evening, so I'm going to tell you what exactly just happened!" Raph, Don and Mikey's eyes widen when they heard and watch their big brother, who always obey and follows their father and sensei's every word, to actually cut off Splinter in the middle of a sentence and to disobey his suggestion.

_Leonardo, this is going a bit too far! Just drop the subject for now and listen to Father!_

_**...Going to have to agree with your Conscience on this one, Pup; talking back to Alpha and cutting him off in the middle of his sentence, even going as far as to disobey his order, will lead to terrible punishment and a hold back to the future for your freedom. Pup must stand down and calm down, before the situation gets worse.**_

Leonardo nearly scoffed to what his instinct just said, as his anger rose when he heard his instinct's not only isn't going to back him up, but is also, in very rare occasion, agreeing to what his Conscience is telling him to do.

_'Like Murakami-san is probably going to be held hostage by Bradford and Xever and his life's going to be in danger, doesn't count as a situation getting worse?! Well, it's too late for that!' _"You wanna know how and why your sons got badly hurt and are injured?" He questioned Master Splinter, but wasn't going to give him enough time to answer back. "These three imbeciles, along with April, as you may already know, chose to ignore my orders to not look for the Purple Dragons and went off looking for their hideout! Then, out of stupidity and probably wanting to get it done or to start a fight too soon, without so much as to scope out the Fortune Cookie Factory or even bother to look inside for any sign of the Foot Clan, they barged through the window, which the gaping hole in the window became proof of their action, and ended up in a fight they weren't ready for or strong enough to go through!"

"At least we were able to-!" Donatello tried to get into the talk and try to explain to their leader of what they were able to accomplish from their mission, but immediately clamped his beak shut from the cold-glare Leo was giving him.

"You were able to accomplish what, Donatello?! Find their hideout without thinking for a moment if Foot Ninjas were waiting for you three to come to them? Beat up the Purple Dragons, while trying to hold yourself off against Bradford and the Foot Ninjas? Nearly getting yourselves killed by our enemies, so that you three can beat some sense into a three-member gang of Chinatown?!" Mikey flinched from his brother's tone, which seems to be more scary than Raph's own yelling whenever the orange-mask ninja finds a way to tick him off from pranking him. "Well guys, guess how that plan of yours ended up! Not only did you three nearly ended up costing your lives in that fight, nor did you nearly put April's safety and the safety of other victims to the Purple Dragons at risk on being caught for telling her where their hideout is, but you guys had also put Murakami-san's life at stake! Because of your poor judgement and inability to think for a moment on how to help Murakami-san out with the gang or even think for a second to go full stealth at the hideout, he's in grave danger and would no doubt be held hostage by Bradford and Xever to get us to come to them!"

Confused looks plastered on the three turtles' face, while Master Splinter finally understood what his eldest son was doing all this time and to why he didn't want his brothers to immediately go looking for the Purple Dragons.

"Hold Murakami-san as a hostage? Why would they do a thing like that, bro?" Raphael question, surprisingly asking in a calm voice and hoping that with him speaking calmly to his big brother, that his brother's anger would also go down and talk normally to them. Unfortunately, the red-mask ninja's plan didn't work.

"Because, Raphael, since we helped Murakami-san at the Noodle Shop when the Purple Dragons were beating him for protection money and because you three wanted to finish the job to make the message clear to stay away from him, the Foot would know of a way to get to us so easily and know that we won't retreat from a fight if they were using somebody they believe has become our new friend! No doubt about it, that they're beating the truth out of the Purple Dragons to tell them where they last saw us and why we picked a fight with them!"

"But, Leo, wouldn't they just told Bradford and that other guy where Murakami lives at, even if we hadn't barged in?" Michelangelo asked, who Leonardo, no matter how angry he is, could never yell at the orange-mask turtle. Yes, he can yell at Raphael and Donatello, and yes, he can yell while the youngest turtle is present, but the blue-mask turtle would never yell or shout at the baby brother of the group. So, Leo held down his anger for a moment and answer Mikey's question, though his voice still held the anger that he's feeling and taking control of his emotion.

"They would've, Michelangelo, but not without being given a motivation to tell them, like getting paid to give out information to what they know. And even if the Purple Dragons told Xever and Bradford about Murakami-san, they would come to believe that we would come and attack them if they ever cause any trouble." He then pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling the headache coming up and his anger still forcing him to take it out on his brothers the longer he remains with them and not up to help their new friend from the Foot Clan. "That's why I didn't want us to go looking for their hideout immediately. If we made them believe that we'd only come if there's trouble or if they cause problems, and had used stealth, we would've known by a safer distance and objective that the Purple Dragons are working with the Foot and be able to fight smart the next time we go up against Bradford and Xever."

He then turned his head and glared at Raph, who had a look that tells the eldest turtle that he now feels completely stupid.

"Unfortunately, that's not going to happen, because _some turtles_ and their human-friend decides to go rouge and give away on why they came to their hideout!"

_...Despite that not being the entire anger you had stored up inside of you, at least you were able to get rid of some of the anger on how you're feeling... Although, there's a certain feeling that you're not done or haven't finish criticizing them yet._

_'Oh, I'm far from being done! The longer they keep me down here and prevent me from going up to the surface, the more I'm going to yell at them until they finally get tired of hearing me talking to them and have me go to the tunnels to cool off!' _"If my hunch is correct, which they most likely will be, then I won't be surprised if April comes running down here to tell us something happened to Murakami-san!"

Right on cue when he finished his sentence, the Hamato Clan heard the sound of footsteps coming their way, which were running towards them, and going through the turnstiles, April came into view.

"Guys, guys!" She cried, going down the steps and allowing herself to bend over her knees to catch her breath. "There's trouble, at Murakami's! The-!"

"The Foot Clan and Purple Dragons trashed the place, grabbed Murakami-san and left us some sort of ransom note or message and is demanding us to meet them at an area to fight, or else they'll kill Murakami-san if we refuse to show up."

Not only did the redhead stayed quiet when Leo caught her off in the middle of her sentence, but because she was completely stunned to what the blue-mask turtle just said and wasn't sure what to add in to his discovery.

"...How did you know all that?" She wasn't the only one completely startled or stunned that Leonardo already knew what she was going to tell them, for the Hamato Clan couldn't believe that the eldest-turtle was right to what their mistake just cause to happen. By her question, the blue-mask turtle glared at her and stalked his way towards her.

"Simple, it's because I knew something like that was going to happen the very moment you _four _had decided to take matter into your own hands!" Never knowing how scary the eldest turtle was when he lets his anger take control, the redhead felt very afraid of the sword-weilding turtle and took a step back in case he tries to grab her. Sensing her fear and being the closest to her, Raphael moved over and placed himself between his brother and human-friend, who he has already come to acknowledge her as his human-sister.

"Hold it right there, Leo! Don't go putting the blame on April!" The hothead told his brother, placing a hand on Leo's shoulder and pushing him slightly back to keep his distance away from April and to prevent him from yelling in front of her face and make her even more afraid of him than she already is.

"Raph's right, Leo! It wasn't April's fault! She was only helping us out and all she did was get us information on where to find out where the Purple Dragons hang out!" Don backed up, slightly sitting himself off of the pillow that still laid in Splinter's lap, only to feel the pain in his temple to force him back to laying his head back on the pillow.

_Your brothers are right, Leo! You're really pushing it and taking it too far, putting the blame on April when she was only helping the team out!_

_'First off, like I said before, she's a trainee, **not** an actual member of the team! Second, she's also to blame to what happened for helping them figure out the hideout of the Purple Dragons!'_

_**...Though that Pup shouldn't place the blame on She-Pup April, Pup is right that she's also part of the fault for Kins reckless action for bringing justice to Blind-Elder... However, for still being a newly member to the Pack and still must prove herself, Pup shall not punish her like he does with Kin. Although, he may scold her for being involved with Omega-Brothers and Beta-Brother's plan.**_

"But she also knew that by helping you three find their hideout, she had placed you three and most likely our sensei in the line of fire! She knew that she didn't have to help out, that she could simply back down and let us handle the situation on our own, which would've given us enough time to come up with a plan to take the Foot down before they even think about getting their hands on Murakami-san. Instead, she made a fatal mistake that's going to spell 'Disaster' for us all... She's just placed the whole family at risk, and gave both the Shredder's Lieutenants and right-hand men a chance on how to get Master Splinter for their master!" His Cerulean/Sapphire-eyes glared anger at the human. "...And to think that I actually trusted you enough to keep this family safe from our enemies... My mistake." _'And like an idiot, I thought she would prove to me that there are humans out there who would actually welcome us with open arms and become worthy allies to keep our secrets!'_

_How could you say that to her?! Like Don and Raph just said, it wasn't even her fault! Even if she had told them where the hideout is, your brothers could've chose to head back to the Lair and hold off beating up the gang! So, basically, it's entirely your brothers' fault, not April's! Now, she's going to feel completely guilty and responsible for what's just happened to Murakami-san!_

_'Good! It should teach her a __valuable lesson: **Never** engage yourself to a right or on a mission, without the leader's permission to do so or the leader being there to navigate the team through the plot of the mission.'_

Hearing that she may have completely destroyed the eldest brother's trust in her, April felt even guiltier than she originally did for going behind the leader's back, after she had told the three younger turtles where the gang were known to hang out in Chinatown. Her steel-blue eyes held pain to what she did to her friend and they look as if they're begging for him to forgive her for betraying his trust in her.

"Leo... I didn't mean to-"

"Save it...! I don't have time for this," he told the human. "Because right now, Murakami-san's being held captive and his life's on the line as we speak the longer he's in the hands of Bradford and Xever." Letting out a sigh and having a feeling that his brother isn't going to come at April, Raph removed his right-hand off of Leo's left-shoulder.

"Leo's right," he said. "We need to go back up to the surface and rescue Muraka-"

"Wrong." Leonardo cut in, glaring up at his taller brother. "_I _need to go back to the surface and rescue Murakami-san. _You_ three, are going to stay put and rest." Splinter, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo all had their eyes widened in horror when Leonardo just told them what the plan is and what the three brothers are to do, almost like he just told them that he was going to join forces with the Foot Clan.

"What?! But we're fine, Leo! Really!" Mikey spoke up, forcing himself to get off of the couch and move towards his big brother, only to have his arms give out and remain laying on his plastron on the couch.

"Right... Not going to fly," the blue-maks turtle stated. "You three just went through a near death battle with the Foot Ninjas, and barely made it out of their with your lives. And even if you were to come along, Donatello and Michelangelo, you would only get in the way and your injuries would just make you two a liability." The two youngest brothers knew that he was right and there was no use arguing with the turtle if he had a point to why they can't come along to save Murakami.

"Mikey and Don may be too wounded to come along, but I'm perfectly fine, Leo!" Raph butted in, pulling out his twin Sais and giving them a small twirl of performance to show off how ready he is to get back into the fight. Leonardo wasn't amused by his little show.

"Sorry, Raphael, but I'm not going to allow you to come along, as well." Emerald-green eyes widen to what his brother just said to him, which then glared into anger.

"What?! Why not?! I'm not going to hold you back when we get into a fight or anything, and the only worse wounds I have are some bruising that won't get in my way on fighting!" Waiting for what excuse his brother was going to make up to prevent the hothead turtle from coming along to the fight.

"Because, Raphael, _you_ were the one who suggested to disobey _my_ orders and are the reason why our brothers are badly hurt. Not only that, but because you went behind my back... I'm afraid that I can't trust you to fight along side with me, let alone follow my lead on how to save Murakami-san. After all, you claimed that I'm a terrible leader, meaning that you won't follow an order a 'terrible leader' would give you to follow." Guilt once again spread throughout Raph's entire being, regretting on ever calling his brother a terrible leader. Leo then stared at his brothers, who also held disappointment on being forced to stay behind. "You three brought this upon yourselves, and now you three are going to suffer the consequences of your actions. And Sensei," he stared into the reddish-brown eyes of his master. "You may deny it all you want or even forbid me to not go, but you know that it has to be done, for the sake of saving Murakami-san on time and to not let another innocent person be killed by the hands of the Shredder."

The fifty year-old humanoid-rat lowered his head and flattened his ears, for he knew that his son was right. Despite hating to face facts that there's no other way to talk the eldest turtle out of it, he stared back up at his son and nodded his head once, giving the turtle his permission to go and for Raphael to not hold him back from leaving the Lair. Leo was a bit stunned when he gained his sensei's permission to leave, but quickly pushed that thought behind and sprint towards the entrance of the Lair.

"Leo, wait!" Skidding himself to a complete stop, almost ramming himself into one of the turnstiles, Leo turned his gaze to the caller who ceased him from running, which was April. "I can help you to at least find out where they could be holding Murakami at." Holding in a growl, he simply gave her his angry glare, meaning that he's still angry with her.

"...I don't need any help," he told her. "I'd figured out where my brothers were when you helped them find the hideout on my own, and I can do it again with finding Murakami-san. Besides, I think you've helped quite enough for one day, so we can't afford to have any more screw ups to interfere with the mission." The redhead lowered her gaze by his words, sadden that he now won't let her help him or give her a chance to correct her mistakes she had caused.

_...Now do you see why you have problem interacting with humans? You're too strict and serious all the time, and you hardly show any kind of emotions and rarely hang out with April that tells her she's your friend and vise versa! Fix this, and let her know that you care about her like your brothers do, now!_

Seeing the hurt look on her face for refusing her help and knowing that his Conscience is right that he should try to get along with her, Leo let out a deep sigh.

"...Just stay in the Lair, April. In case the Purple Dragons had mentioned you into telling Bradford and Xever on who else was with us at the Noodle Shop during the fight on protecting Murakami-san, it would be best if you stay low and hidden until the situation is taken care of."

Her steel-blue eyes widen from how softly he spoke to her that time, making her feel a bit better and more reassured that he truly does care about her, despite them rarely hanging out with each other and him avoiding her whenever she comes over to see them unless she's to be involved with the mission.

_There, now that wasn't so hard or bad. And hey, you didn't severed your bond with h-_

_'Shut it. Just because I made her feel a bit better and know she can stop causing problems by staying put, doesn't mean I've forgiven her that quickly for what she's done.' _He turned his gaze away from her, avoiding to see each other eye to eye and stare back to the darkness outside of the Lair. _'We'll debate on what to do about April breaking my trust in her, after we take care of the Purple Dragons and save Murakami-san.'_

_**Pup is right. Blind-Elder needs him, much more than Pack does at this very moment.**_

Just as he was about to go off, once again, somebody stopped him from leaving and, feeling the hand on his left-shoulder and how tight the clenching was, he knew that it was Raph.

"How will we know that you won't go running off after the fight and that you'll come straight home?"

_'Raphael, I **swear** to merciful God, that if you guys keep on stopping__ me from leaving the Lair, then Bradford and Xever aren't going to be the only ones to have blood on their hands!'_

_You can't blame him for stopping you with such a question, especially when he and your family wants to be sure that you do return. Is that so wrong, for your brother to simply worry of the __possibility for a repeat to happen all over again?_

_'...In other cases, it doesn't. However, in a life and death situation, or even in the position that I'm in of the Hamato Clan, it is.'_ He turned his head to the side, staring into the eyes of his younger brother that held worry and, in some rare occasion, fear, that's being hidden by his most common known emotions and feelings: Rage, anger and envy."...That's just it, Raphael. None of you guys can trust me to comeback when the fight is over, if I can't trust any of you to follow my orders, let alone give me a chance to go off on my own above the surface and to return on my own..." He let loose a low growl, though he made sure that his growl wouldn't make him sound like a killer animal. "I'm afraid until we can all start trusting each other and be able to work together, we are no longer an actual team." He then yanked his shoulder out of Raph's rough grip, and gave his brothers a final glare of anger and disappointment he holds and feels for them. "I hope you're all happy for what you've done... Oh, and one more thing, Raphael: **Anata no negai ga kanau koto o negatte imasu** (Hope that your wish finally comes true)**.**"

Emerald-green eyes once again widen in horror to what Leo just said to him, but the blue-masked turtle ignored the stunned glance Raph was giving him and, not going to have anybody else hold him back, the turtle pushed his body to leap over the turnstiles and sprint into the darkness, leaving behind the horrified glances of his family and a confused human-girl to what he just said to his brother.

April may still be new to learning Japanese, but she can tell that whatever Leo just said to his brother isn't good at all. She turned to Master Splinter and Donatello, where the turtle seemed to be use to whatever it was his big brother just said to Raphael but his Mahogany-brown held fear to the words, and the rat looks just about ready to remove himself off of the couch and go after his now rebellion child. She then had her gaze on Michelangelo, who looked as if he just woken up from a nightmare and, like a little kid, wanting his parent to reassure him that everything was going to be alright and his nightmare isn't real.

"What did Leo just say?" She asked the orange-masked turtle, seeing that the youngest to being the only possible candidate to answer her question and, for a fact, being more openminded than the rest of the turtles, despite still being stunned for what his big brother just said to Raphael.

"H-He..." Mikey stuttered a bit, before clearing his throat to get rid of the lump that had formed its way inside his neck and better at being heard to for answering the girl's question. "He just told Raph-"

"Something I should've never said to him five years ago." Raph interrupted, keeping his emerald-green eyes glaring down at the floor underneath his feet and clenching his hands tightly into fists. "Even when I told him that I never meant what I said to him, he still thinks that I meant it whenever my big, fat mouth makes me say anything similar to what I told him when we were ten." April's curiosity got the best of her, that she didn't think for a second to what her next question she was going to ask the turtles and rat.

"...What happened five years ago?" The three brothers stared to one another, silently having their own conversation on what to tell the girl, while Splinter flattened his ears and lowered his reddish-brown eyes to the ground, refusing to meet the worried glance of the ginger's steel-blue eyes or speak a word to her question. Finally, it was Donnie that broke the glance and let out a deep sigh.

"It's not really our place to say, Apr-" Stomping her foot, the girl cut off Don's sentence.

"Oh, c'mon, you guys!" Before any one of the turtles or Master Splinter would tell her to drop the topic, she continued on with her ranting. "I may have only known you five for no more than a month and a half, but you're all family to me! Including Leo!" Four pairs of stunned eyes gazed up to the girl, but their glances didn't prevent her to continue on with her yelling. "He and I may not had spend as much time as I do with you three and Master Splinter-"

"Actually, April, you and Leo never spend time together, unless we're involved on a mission and whenever Donnie or you suggested on coming to help us out." Mikey cut in, earning an annoyed look by the purple-masked turtle.

"Besides the obvious point, Mikey. He's still family to me, just as much as you four are. And since you five are now my family, I have a right to know on what's going on and why you four are scared and were trying to prevent Leo from saving Mr. Murakami on his own!"

Silence followed soon after her outburst.

"...She is right, my sons." The three turtles turned their gaze to Splinter, with the look of defeat written all over his face.

"But, Sensei-"

"No, Raphael. April's part of our clan, our family, and has kept the secrets of our existence from the humans, which she still continues on guarding." He then gently lifted Donatello's head, along with the pillow, off of his lap and set it back down on the couch after removing himself off his spot on the couch, before making his way to the human-girl. "She not only earned the right to know, but she indeed has the right to know about our secret fear."

And so, guiding her towards the other side of the couch Mikey laid in and gesturing Raphael to take his old spot where Donatello sat his head up from, Splinter took a few steps back and kneeled himself in the center of the floor, keeping his focus and attention on the girl.

"April, what my sons and I are going to tell you is something that we, along with Leonardo, don't ever want to bring up or talk about. For you see, five years ago, a terrible argument and a would-be tragedy almost taken my eldest child away from us... And, had almost caused him to leave the clan for good."

April cocked her head to the side in confusion.

"I don't understand, Master Splinter. What sort of tragedy are you talking about, and what do you mean by 'leave the clan for good'?"

Rubbing his eyes to clear his vision and get rid of any feelings of sleep that Splinter caused him to feel from the Shiatsu session, Donnie answered her question.

"...April, there's something you should know about Leo." The girl made no attempts to interrupt, so the genius turtle decides to continue. "Believe it or not, which you may already figure out the answer, Leo's... He's different from us."

"'Different'? Different how?"

"He's not like the rest of us." Raph stated, who had his arms folded staring back to the entrance of their Lair.

"April, for as long as we can ever remember and had lived our lives as humanoid-animals, Leonardo didn't behave or interacted like Raphael, Donatello, Michelangelo or even myself did from the very beginning of our lives being forever changed." Splinter informed the girl. "You see, when our life as a family began, it didn't started out as peaceful or happy as it should've been. While Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo interacted and behaved like human-infants would do, back then, Leonardo would only sleep. He would rarely make a sound, hardly move from where we used to sleep before I was able to find beds for all of us to have, and, sadly, would nurse the less than his brothers."

"Really?" April said, kinda surprised and looked a bit concerned to what the rat just told her about his eldest son. "You didn't think that he was hibernating back then... Or do you guys not hibernate?"

"No, we do hibernate, but were able to avoid hibernating when we were eight, after I was able to build us a heater to keep us warm during the cold season to avoid sleeping during the Winter." Donnie pointed out. "As for Leo, he couldn't have been hibernating. Back in nineteen ninety-seven, Spring came early and the temperature was a bit over average. Not only that, Raph, Mikey and I would've also hibernated as well during that time if the temperature was too cold for us to handle for being cold-blooded. And even if Winter lasted longer, he would've woken up somewhere near the ending of March."

"My only conclusion, during that time, was that the mutagen that caused our mutation could've somehow be the reason why Leonardo slept for eight months straight." Once again, Splinter lowered his head and his ears flattened a bit. "I almost lost him during the eight months raising them when they were infants, but by some sort of miracle and my unwillingness to give up on my son, he finally woke up and was perfectly fine."

"The only problem back then, he behaved more like an animal than a human, even though we four started out as animals. He would walk on all-fours and refused to walk on just his feet until Master Splinter got him to break the habit at the age of five, he didn't began to talk until we were three and a half and during the time when we would actually try to play with him, he would simply cock his head to the side and just sit in his spot until we either leave him alone when we gave up on getting him to play or Master Splinter instructed him on how to play and told him to play with us until we gotten tired of the game."

April showed not that much of a surprise to Don telling her on how the eldest turtle was in their childhood, though she was stunned to hear that the blue-masked turtle was pretty much a late bloomer and somehow still has his animal-like instincts and behavior than the younger turtles do.

"...Okay. But what does that have to do with whatever that happened five years ago?" Wanting to get it over with, Michelangelo began the story.

"I got this one, Dudes. I'm really good at story telling!" Raph and Donnie groaned and shook their heads, but neither butted in or stop him from starting the story. "Five years ago, back when we were ten, we were doing evening training session, as usual. Only, on that day, it was actually a special day for us because it's the very day we were finally given our weapons. And, as always, we had a winner and a sore loser... Only, this time, the sore loser decided to pull a stunt that nobody thought he would ever do..."

* * *

**Flashback: Five Years Ago...  
**"**Hajime** (Start)**!**" By the command cry of their sensei, the four ten year-old turtles charged towards each other, with Raphael and Donatello coming for each other and Leonardo and Michelangelo doing the exact same.

"You better watch out, Leo, because I'm finally going to beat you!" Mikey declared to his big brother, as the young-turtle twirl his very own weapons, the nunchucks, and tries to get his opponent off guard by either whacking his weapons, the Katanas, out of his hands or get him in the head to stun him long enough for the youngest turtle to trip him off his feet and pin him down to be declare the winner of their fight.

However, just as the turtle brought his weapon down, all he hit was the air in front of him and in his confused state on figuring out where his opponent went, he unknowingly backed up into a shadowed corner and, still not being able to master on sensing all his surroundings, lost both his weapons from behind and pinned down to the floor, wrapped within his Kusarigama's chain and his legs bound together by the Nunchaku.

"You were saying, Mikey?" Turning his head to the side, the youngest turtle saw it was his big brother, Leonardo, who had beaten him by binding him within his own weapons and didn't have to use his Katanas, which he had sheathed up when he concealed himself within the shadows to get his brother from behind. Knowing he has been defeated and has lost the fight, Michelangelo let out a pouting sigh.

"Never mind," he answered.

As Leo got off his brother and unbound him from his weapons, Raphael and Donatello continued on with their fight, with Donnie seeming to be getting the upper hand by keeping his distance from his brother with the help of his newly obtained weapon, the Naginata Bō staff.

"This is your last chance, Donnie. Put down the staff, and nobody's going to get hurt."

"You told me that last time, Raph, and you ended up hurting me."

"Yeah, but I probably would've hurt ya even more than I would had, right now, if I wasn't in such a good mood today."

Twirling his Sais in his hands, Raph charged, barely dodging the jab of the Bo staff if he hadn't pulled himself back and slid pass his brother by sliding across the floor on his knees. In the middle of the slide, he positioned both his Sais to grab for the end of Don's Naginata Bō staff that the purple-mask turtle tried to use to bring down the hothead turtle and when the twin weapons grabbed for the wooden staff, the red-mask turtle used all his strength to force the end of the Bō down to the ground. The sudden force of a stronger user bringing it backwards, caused the Bō staff to shove its master to the floor on his back, along with one of its end that's been locked on by the sais to break. Now with his newly obtained weapon broken and laying on his back on the floor, Donatello knew that he has lost the fight with Raphael.

"You should've listened to me when I told you to put down the staff, Donnie... You should've listened," he told his younger ten year-old brother. As Don went to slowly picking himself off the ground and moving his way to sit in front of the tree next to Mikey and behind Master Splinter, Raph and Leo stood on opposite sides of the Dojo. Cerulean/Sapphire-eyes calmly gazing into the Emerald-green eyes, which held fire and anticipation on wanting to beat the eldest son and to become the winner of the fight, as both turtles kneeled and bowed to each other in respect to wish their opponent luck and for a good battle.

"**Onegai shimasu **(I humbly ask; please)." Leonardo said to his brother, respecting the Code of Bushido.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Leo. Let's do this, already!" Raph replied back, having a bit of trouble to stay still any longer on wanting to fight his big brother.

Both stood to their feet and brought out their weapons, with the eldest turtle only holding out one of his Katanas, Musashi, instead of both weapons like Raph held out. The two brothers then charged at each other, with Leo bringing down his sword and Raph blocking the attack with both of his Sais crossed together in front of his face. For being the strongest of the group, Raph had no trouble at pushing the Katana away from him and slowly backing his brother towards the wall, right underneath the small shrine that Splinter made for his deceased wife and daughter. Seeing that his older brother's at his mercy and pushing the blade towards its wielder, the red-masked turtle smirked in triumph.

"Give it up, Leo. I already won!" While holding back the blade as much as he could from his face, Leo saw that one of Raph's Sais had locked itself on to his blade, giving him an idea on how to get back at his hotheaded brother.

"Don't bet on it just yet, Raphael." Earning a confused look by his brother and before he saw it coming, the blue-masked turtle turned his blade to the right, forcing his brother to lean on his left, then, stunning all three of his brothers and Splinter, tossed his blade towards the right, with the Sai that was held in Raph's hand still gripping to the blade. Emerald-green eyes stared wide-eyed in shock to what just happened, giving the eldest turtle the chance to take down his brother.

He instantly forced his legs to part from each other, having him doing the splits, which caught Raph's attention when he felt a gust of wind in front of him to go down, then the eldest turtle placed both hands in front of him to help shift himself and used his right-leg to trip Raph off his feet. His brother flat on his shell, Leonardo launched himself on top of Raph and pinned him to the floor, having to pull out Kamiizumi before he launched himself to pin down his brother and holding the blade up against the younger-turtle's neck. Feeling the blade pressed up against his neck, Raph froze and his eyes held an instinct of fear that his brother was going to kill him with his own weapon.

**"Yame **(Stop)**!"** Leo lifted his glare from his brother and stared up at their sensei, who stood from his spot and gave the eldest turtle a firm nod to silently tell him the fight is over. Glancing back at his trapped brother and giving him a small low growl, he removed Kamiizumi from his neck and leap himself backwards to release his brother, putting the blade back in its sheath and calmly making his way to the other end of the room to retrieve Musashi.

Rage coursed through Raph's veins, angry that he had lost the fight against his brother and humiliated that he had shown and felt fear when he was supposed to be the strongest and bravest turtle in the family. Allowing rage to take control, he got to his feet, stomped his way towards his brother and grabbed him by the back of his shell, pinning him to the wall.

"Raphael!" Splinter scolded, rising to his feet but stayed in his spot when Leonardo gave him a quick glance over to tell him that he would handle it on his own.

"What the hell was that about, cheater!?"

"Raphael, language!" Splinter once again scolded and would've made his way towards his two eldest children to give the hotheaded turtle a good whack in the head with his Jade-cane for swearing, but Leo simply held up his hand to remind the rat he would handle the situation.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Raphael. How was it that I cheated, when I didn't do anything that's considered unfair for you to even call me a cheater?" Raph snorted at his brother's question.

"In case you've forgotten, Leo, which you already did, we were supposed to use our weapons while fighting against each other! All you did was block my attack and tossed your weapon aside, which doesn't seem to be very smart when you were pinned down to the floor. Shell, you didn't use your weapon when you were battling Mikey! You broke the rule, which makes me the actual winner of the fight!"

While Donatello and Michelangelo rolled their eyes in annoyance, Leonardo simply gave the redhead turtle a plain gaze, knowing that what he was going to say to him would burst his bubble and gloating.

"Actually, Raph, Master Splinter never said that we were supposed to use our weapons in order to win." The smirk on Raph's face went away, replaced with confusion and the start of an anger rising. "This match was a free-for-all and in many free-for-all matches, we're giving the choice and option on how we choose to fight our opponents." He then raised his right-hand and shoved the hand that kept its grip on his right-shoulder off, making the younger-turtle to release his hold. "Either way, Raphael, I would've still won the fight, even if we were told to use our weapons in battle, for the way of the ninja is to be unpredictable and do whatever it takes to win, which even means being unfair and to cheat if that's what it takes to be the victor."

"What?! That's not true!" Raph stomped, refusing to admit that Leo's right and he truly did win the fight. "It's a lie!"

"If we're to one day go up against an actual opponent, Raph, do you think they'll actually be fair with us when we fight?" Leo gained no response, answering his question that he's right and, after sheathing up his discarded sword back in its sheath that he strapped on his back to prevent the sheaths from getting in the way, made his way to the other side of the Dojo and placed his sheathed weapons on the rack. "I thought so." He then turned back to stare at Raph, who stood in the same spot to at the wall the eldest-turtle was once pinned to, and bowed to silently tell the red-masked turtle he fought well and was a worthy opponent. "**Yoriyoi un jikai** (Better luck next time), Raphael." He then turned to Splinter and also gave him a bow in showing his respect to his teacher, then quietly made his way to the Shoji, knowing that practice was over and wanting to head for his bedroom to let his body rest for tomorrow's training session.

**"Iie..."** Raph's word ceased Leo's retreat to his room, along with confused glances from Donatello, Michelangelo and Master Splinter. "No... I don't believe it." Raph turned his head to glare at his brother, anger and rage still held within his Emerald-green eyes, as his hands clenched tightly into fists. "You broke the rule, Leo! I won the fight!" He then stared at his father. "Tell 'em, Sensei! Tell 'em that I won!" Instead of getting the answer he wanted their father to say, Splinter simply let out a deep sigh and shook his head.

"I'm afraid Leonardo doesn't speak, nor has he done, any sort of error in what he said or what he has done in the fight, Raphael."

"...What?" Stunned eyes widen in confusion and a little of hurt. "But, Sensei, you always told us to fight fair and to never cheat our way to win!"

"Yes, it's true that I want you all to fight fairly when in combat, but when it comes to protective our home or defending each other, then you're to do whatever it takes that you become the victor, even if it means that you'll have to cheat in order to stay on top." His reddish-brown eyes turned to his eldest child, who stayed in his spot and showed not even the slightest sign of any satisfaction that his sensei's on his side. "Though I may not had permitted such action to be taken when training, I shall allow this to slide this one time, for we need to be reminded that we mustn't always come to believe our enemies will truly fight fair, along with that I never telling any of you to not cast your weapons aside for thinking none of you would pull a stunt when you've all just gained your weapons."

"**Nani** (What)?! But, Sensei, that's not fair!" Raph complained, making his way to stand in front of the rat.

"I'm afraid it is fair, Raphael, if I haven't instructed you four to do something that's opposite to what you know you're to do, until I finally made a decision or come up with a rule to what action you four had done to have finally make a rule against it." Jealousy grew in the turtle's

"You're just saying that because you favor _Leo_ over us, like you always do!" Don and Mikey gasped at their brother's words, while Splinter's eyes widen from being stunned by his son's choice of words and the eldest turtle simply looked surprised, but shook it off and let loose a low growl.

"That's not true, Raph!" Leo butt into the conversation, standing next to his brother and glaring into his gaze. "Sensei doesn't favor me over any of you guys. He cares for all four us, _equally_, he doesn't favors one of us over the others!"

"Liar! We know he cares about you more than the rest of us!" Raph yelled back, shoving his brother back with both hands and almost knocking the eldest off his feet. "Whenever Mikey, Don and I do something bad or mess a move up when training, Master Splinter scolds and/or yells at us until we get it right! Whenever you do something bad, he makes up some lame excuse for you to avoid getting yelled at and don't get punish at all!" He then poked his index-finger against Leo's chest, which could've left a painful bruise if not for the Plastron being in the way. "Whenever we try to show Master Splinter our special talent, you have to go off being a show-off and steal his attention away from us!" Another painful jab of a poke to the chest forced the blue-masked turtle to flinched a bit. "He always pays attention to you and gives you all the loves you want, because you're always being Mr. Perfect all the time and for being such an ass kisser!" Another poke in the chest and a light wince Raph got from his brother. "You still going to tell me he doesn't love you more than us, because that sounds like favoritism to me!"

"Raphie, stop! You're hurting him!" Mikey called out, seeing the look of pain on his big brother's face with every poke Raph gives to him until he once again has his back against the wall and the hotheaded turtle standing in front of Leo to prevent him from leaving, but too scared to go up against his older-brother in fearing he'll turn on him for interfering.

"Shut up, Mikey!" Raph yelled, too angry to feel any sort of guilt on hurting his baby brother's feelings.

"That's enough, Raphael! Stand down!" Splinter ordered, making his way towards his two eldest and grabbing Raphael by the right-arm, pulling him away from Leonardo.

"No, Sensei, it isn't enough! Not when it comes to _**him**_!" Raph pointed a finger at Leonardo, who remained standing in front of the wall he was just pushed up against. "You think you're so perfect, that you try to have us be just like you, don't you?! Well, guess what? We're not going to be like you and there's no way in Hell do we ever want to be like you at all! And whoever wants to? You're just a stick in the mud, who does nothing but train to be better than us, and tattletale on us whenever we do something bad and to get us in trouble!" He then yanked his arm out of Splinter's hold, but stayed in his spot in the center of the Dojo. "Why did we had to be stuck with you as our brother? You don't play with us, you don't talk to us unless you're giving us an answer that doesn't require a nod or a head shake for yes or no questions! Hell, you don't even think like we do! I still wonder why we even have you here at all!"

Splinter, Donatello and Michelangelo didn't like where Raphael was going in the conversation.

"Raph, please sto-!" Donnie didn't get the chance to finish his sentence to stop the hotheaded turtle, because the next thing he said to Leonardo was something none of them, not even Hamato Yoshi, thought they would ever have to hear coming from their own.

"I hate you! You're the worst brother to have ever live, that I wish **Otousan** had never picked you when we were still turtles! I wish you'd never hatched, so that you never existed to begin with!... **WATASHI WA ANATA DAKE DE SHINU SHITAI **(I WISH YOU WOULD JUST DIE), SO THAT WE WOULDN'T HAVE SUCH A USELESS MISTAKE FOR A BROTHER WHO WE NEVER LOVED AT ALL IN OUR ENTIRE EXISTENCE!"

Silence went around the room, with the only sound being the harsh panting the red-masked turtle made from having to scream as loud as he could at his brother from the center of the room. Once he felt a major load that's been pressed heavily on his chest had finally lifted and his anger disintegrating, did his mind began to become clear and notice the stunned and horrified looks on his younger brothers and father.

"L... Leo?" Mikey's voice, that quivered in fear and worry, drawing Raph to turn to the direction of his older-brother... With a stunning sight that he never thought he would see from his brother: Leonardo, the eldest quadruplet amongst the turtles, had his eyes widen and head bowed, having his horrified look staring down at his feet.

His body shook and his hands clenched into tight fists, little trail of blood seeping through his three fingers and dripping onto the tatami, along with the sweat that dripped off from his face that some were still made from earlier in the fight on trying to overpower his brother. He tried to control his breathing, which sounded as if he was having a panic attack or was hyperventilating, but the turtle has no control over his breathing, not when the hot searing pain in his chest kept on attacking his heart and burning up into his lungs and throat.

Raphael saw how much his words had damaged his brother and immediately, he regretted every word he just said to his brother, knowing by his cleared mind that none of the words he told the eldest turtle was true.

"...Leo?" He knew that he won't be able to fix the problem with just a simply apology, but he wasn't sure what else to do besides to tell his brother he didn't meant it. "Bro, I-"

"**Yappari** (I knew it, I thought so)." Leo whispered, who was finally able to get control of his breathing by taking deep breaths and remove the horrified look on his face, but his voice sounded a bit cracked for him to not be able to hide his hurt from his family. He lifted his gaze and, only keeping his eyes on Raph, gave him a glare that nobody could tell if he was angry or upset. "I always knew you hated me, but I had hoped you'd actually cared about me at all, even once in our life... **Watashi no misu** (My mistake)." Despite wanting to just run out of the Dojo to get away from the negative atmosphere hanging around them, Leonardo held back the urge to run and gave his brothers and sensei and low bow. He then slowly lifted himself upright, broke the gaze between him and his brother and calmly made his way towards the Shoji.

Having a terrible gut feeling in his stomach, Splinter held a concerned look on his face.

"Leonardo?"

"**Nemasu** (I'm going to sleep)." The turtle answered, not bothering to make eye-contact with the humanoid-rat and slowly sliding the Shoji open. He took two steps outside of the Dojo and before he closed the Shoji, he spoke on last time. "And Raphael, if what you said is how you truly feel and if that would make you happy... **Anata no negai ga kanau koto o negatte imasu**."  
**End of Flashback...**

* * *

"He then closed the Shoji, locked himself in his bedroom and we didn't see him for the rest of the day." April's eyes remained wide in horror, not believing what she heard Mikey just told her about the argument, until her gaze went to Raphael, who sat on the edge of the couch Mikey and herself are on and kept his gaze down.

"...You actually told him that?" She gained a nod from the red-masked turtle and her shocked expression changed into anger and disbelief. "I can't believe you would say something so awful, so _hurtful_, that you didn't even try to apologize to him!"

"I know, I know!" Raph grunted. "I've gotten a major tongue-lashing by Mikey, Don and Sensei the moment he left the room and tried to get Leo out of his bedroom to properly tell him that I was sorry, but he wouldn't even talk to me." He then laid his face into his palm, taking deep breath to try and calm down. "I wasn't thinking when I told him those exact words. Hell, I never meant what I said to him."

"Well, if you were thinking up the words inside your brain and commanded your mouth to speak out those words, then you were actually thinking." Earning a deadly-glare by Raph, Don quickly changed the subject. "And not just him, Leo wouldn't talk to anybody for the rest of the day and wouldn't even come out of his bedroom for anything."

"Except he did got out of his room to use the bathroom." An annoyed look came on Don's face.

"Besides that, Mikey, he didn't come out of his room for anything else besides using the bathroom."

"Well, he could've gotten out for something else while we were still training in the Dojo, because we decided to leave him alone to give him his space." Seeing they were starting to get off of the subject, April broke the conversation between the two youngest turtles.

"...Okay, so what happened after that, you guys? Because something tells me this is going to explain why you four are unwilling to let Leo go off on his own." Splinter's eyes flattened and let out a deep sigh.

"I'm afraid you're correct, April, for when morning came the next day, we were unprepared for what we would have to face."

* * *

**Flashback: Five Years Ago, the Next Day...**  
"Come on, Leo, it's time to come out of there!" Michelangelo called out, pounding his fists against the door to annoy his big brother to open the door. Beside him, Donatello stood at Mikey's left and also knocked on the door when the youngest finally ceased his knocking.

"Please, Leo." He asked, hoping that by asking nicely would gain his brother's attention. "You've been in there for over twelve hours and that can't be good for your health. You've hadn't eaten anything since breakfast yesterday, you only came out to use the bathroom when it was time for bed, and I doubt you've drank any water. Please, will you come on out of your room?" They gained no response, nor heard a sound indicating Leo was going to open the door. In front of the door handle, Raphael grabbed for the handle and tried to force it open with just his strength, but the door refused to budge.

"Leo, open the door!" He cried out, continuously trying to force the door to open by pulling. "Look, bro, I'm sorry for what I said to you yesterday! I didn't mean any of what I just said, honest! I was just angry and jealous that you beat me, fair and square, and was being a sore loser!" His hands off the handle and clenched his hands into fists to start pounding on the door. "This is getting ridiculous, Leo, please come on out of there and let us be friends, again!"

"My sons, what is the meaning for the yelling and banging harshly on Leonardo's door?" The three turtles turned and stared up at Splinter, who didn't seemed confused to what they were doing but appear to wonder why they were all screaming for their brother to come out.

"Master Splinter, Leo's still refusing to come out of his room and we can't get him to open the door." Donnie explained, gently pulling Mikey away from the door to allow Splinter to stand in front of the door. Calmly, the humanoid-rat gently knocked on the door.

"Leonardo, it's time to come out." No sound was made from the other side of the door, which one of Splinter's ears twitched and let out a low moan in thinking his son is pretending to still be sleeping to avoid coming out of bed. Once again, Splinter knocked on the door. "My son, you cannot stay in there forever. It's time to get out of bed and eat breakfast." Nothing. Starting to get irritated, Splinter grabbed the door handle and pulled, only to have the door stay in its place. "Leonardo, unlock this door, this instant!" A couple of tugs on the handle, the door still refuses to budge and remained locked. "Leonardo, open this door, now!" Losing his patience as quick as Raph, though from the cry of his name sounded a bit more of a plead than a command, he pulled out a lock pick from underneath his wrappings of his left-arm and went into unlocking the door. "Forgive me for my act on intruding, my son, but since you won't cooperate with me and refuse to come out, I'm afraid that I must insist on entering and putting an end to this childish game of yours." A couple of twist and turning of the lock pick, the door finally unlocked and opened for the rat when he pulled at the handle.

Just looking inside, the room's completely pitch-black that not even the rat's sharp-vision could detect or see any source of movement within the dark chamber. Reaching out to the side, he felt for the lightswitch and flipped the switch on.

"Leonardo-" The light flickered a couple of times before it stayed lit... Revealing to the humanoid-rat and his three younger-sons that the room is completely empty, with only a made bed and a dresser in their sight. Being the youngest and smallest, Mikey squeezed his way into the room when his father went still in front of the entrance.

"Leo?" He lightly called out, walking towards the bed and bending low to look under the bed. "Leo, are you under here?" Raph and Donnie pushed their way into the room, stunned to find it empty and confused on how and why the door was locked when their brother wasn't inside to begin with. Turning to stare at the dresser, Raph saw something that caught his eye.

"Hey, what's that?" He asked, tugging on Splinter's robe and pointing a finger at Leonardo's katanas, that laid against the wall and next to the dresser. The two blades sat perfectly still against the wall, but what really caught the turtle's attention and now his father is the note taped against the longer sword's sheath. Dread filled Splinter's stomach and his stayed wide eyed, as he calmly walked towards the swords and gently pulled the note off of the sheath. He unfolded the piece of paper that was folded in half and staring at what was inside of the fold, he let out a gasp of horror and his reddish-brown held uncontrollable fear, as his hand that held the note trembled within his grasp and then fell from his clawed-finger, which was then caught by Don.

"Master Splinter?" When he finally given up on looking under the bed, Michelangelo walked up to his father and grabbed a hold of his kimono, noticing the horrified look on the rat's face when he bowed his head and his eyes gazed horrified on the ground. "Sensei, are you okay? What's wrong?"

"He's gone." Raphael and Mikey turned to Donatello, who also had a look of horror, only his eyes had tears in his eyes that trailed down his face and fell to his knees.

"What do you mean 'he's gone', Don? Who's gone?" Raph asked, kneeling down beside his brother and staring at the note the clench in the turtle's hand. "What's on that note?" Annoyed and irritated on the note that somehow caused his sensei and brother to look scared and get upset, Raph unclenched Don's hand with little to no difficulty and soon held the wrinkled paper in his hands. Gently smoothing the paper out the best he could and with Mikey looking over his shoulder, both turtles gets to finally see and learn what was inside the small-paper... Which, upon looking at it, made them wish to have never read what was written inside:

_**"Sayōnara"**_

Raph's hands trembled, just like Splinter and Don had, but he was able to keep a firm grip on the paper. Being the youngest and still confused on what's going on, but with his heart clenching in pain and stomach making him feel sick to his stomach, Mikey's bright-blue eyes formed tears and stared up at his father.

"What happened to Leo, Sensei? What does he mean when he written 'goodbye' in the note?" Placing a trembling hand on his head and slowly kneeling down to stare into the turtle's tear-filled eyes, with tears forming in his own eyes, Splinter calmly told Mikey the meaning of the note's one-word message.

**"Kare wa nigeta **(He ran away)**."**  
**End of Flashback...**

* * *

April's sky-blue eyes reflected shock and horrified to what she's been told.

"...He... He ran away?" Lowered heads and downcast eyes were her answer to her question. Her sadness went away and replaced with disbelief and a bit of anger. "And none of you tried to see him, actually made an effort to open his door to see him and try to cheer him up, and didn't think for a moment he was planning on leaving when you thought leaving him alone would make things better?!"

"We thought he needed some alone time and would tell us to leave him alone." Donatello explained, placing a hand on his temple that throbbed and afraid of the ginger being angry at him and his brother, though mostly himself. "That's what we always do, whenever one of us wanted cool off and not take out our anger on the other." April crossed her arms over her chest and gave the turtles a good glare that she didn't see that as a good enough excuse.

"Did any of you ever go through having your feelings hurt by your own brother, been told they wish you never existed and want you to die?" The three turtles stared at one another, then shook their heads. "Locking yourself when you're angry and isolating yourself when you get your feelings hurt or told you're not wanted by your loved ones, aren't the same thing and don't have the same solutions!" She then turned to Splinter. "And you! No offense or any means of disrespect, Sensei, but you of all people should know that and should've told them to be careful what they say to each other!"

His ear twitched from her yelling, but the humanoid-rat didn't dare to lose his patience when he knew he very much deserved to be scolded for his parenting in the past.

"I have told my sons many times to be aware on what they say to each other and to never take words that are spoken out of anger or by an enemy seriously, though I also told them their words are just merely words and don't hurt as much as physical wounds do."

April wasn't satisfied to what he told his sons when they were younger.

"So, you gave them the 'Sticks and Stones' lesson, didn't you?" Splinter gave her a nod. "And you actually believe that trash?" A confused look was all the answer she needed. "You may have given them the 'Sticks and Stones' lesson, but believe it or not, Sensei, that method and teaching is nothing but a big, fat, lie." Confused gazes went around the room, which April had to give herself a facepalm to the forehead. "I'll tell you all about it later. For now, can we get on with the story." Splinter chose to let it go and continue on with the story.

"Of course," he said. "Ever since we found Leonardo's room empty and the note he left for us, I immediately went out to search for him. I failed to find him on the first day, then the second, and on the third."

"Eventually, we gotten tired on having to wait for Sensei and to find him return with little success, that on the fourth day, we were able to convince him to let us help." Donnie cut in. "Unfortunately, even with the four of us out looking for Leo, we couldn't find any trace of him at all within the sewers, tunnels, or the abandon subway station."

"Our search for Leonardo went on for a full month and with not even a single clue to figure out where he is or where he went, I was worried that he went up to the surface and had gotten himself captured by the humans." He then placed both his pawed-hands to his chest and bowed his head, tightly closing his eyes to prevent tears from coming out of him to show his weakness to his children. "...Or that I was too late and my son had perished somewhere in the sewers." Don, despite the concussion, got himself off the couch and calmly placed a comforting hand on his father's shoulder.

"However, before we could even come to one of those conclusion, there were still some places we hadn't thought about to check until Mikey brought it up: The closed off sections of the sewers and the forbidden boundaries close to the ocean that we were told to never go."

"Sensei didn't want us to go any of those places, but agreed to have us checked those places, after we gone through the areas we've been through one last time in case we missed something." Mikey added in, before jerking a thumb at Raph. "However, as stubborn and stupid he was back then-"

"Are you asking for a concussion, Mikey?!"

"Sorry bro, but it's true. Anyway, Raph ignored Sensei's suggestion and once we split up, he went his own way and head for one of the closed off sections of the sewer. And out of all the closed off sections in the sewers, he had to choose the one that has a neighbor we never knew we were sharing the sewers with."

**TBC**

* * *

...I bet you all can take a good guess to what "neighbor" Mikey's referring to.

Shiatsu*: A form of therapy of Japanese origin based on the same principles as acupuncture, in which pressure is applied to certain points on the body using the hands.

Also... To me, the "Sticks and Stones" saying is a load of bull. I know; some of my friends and I had to endure some name-calling during elementary school, and we weren't sure if physical pain hurts more than being name-called and picked on all the time.

Sorry it took me awhile, again, to post; a friend on Fanfiction asked me to help out a bit on their story. Not only that, as usual, mother and her boyfriend won't stop pestering me or drop the car issue and school work giving me headaches. Not only that... WRITER'S BLOCK, I HATE THEM SO MUCH (and are probably the reason why my writing's seems to be off lately... Either that or it's something else)! Also had my 20th birthday (didn't like or wanted to celebrate [which I didn't, thank god])... I hope nobody in my family is reading this, or I'll most likely get my ear talked off by them on why I didn't wanted to celebrate it.

Anyway, hopefully, I'll be able to update sooner (if my mother doesn't pest me on learning how to drive or getting my license during the Summer [unfortunately, she got me a car... Great... And I passed my permit]... Yeah, she's going to pest me into driving to get my license...). The good news, I'm finally done with my college class, so I'll probably get some time to try and update some more. Just be patient with me, guys. Alright? I'll update my stories, ASAP. I promise.

R&amp;R


	8. How Doth the Sewer Monster

**Flashback:**** April 17th, 2007; a Month and a Week Later...  
**"C'mon, Leo. You've gotta still be in the sewer somewhere." Raph said to himself, making his way down the tunnel of a closed off section of the sewer, after removing some of the wooden boards to make a hole big enough for him to get through with ease.

Normally, he nor his brother would ever think about going to any of the closed off sections of the sewers. Mostly, because Splinter told them how dangerous they can be and those dangers, alone, are usually the reasons why they're closed off in the first place. Not only that, but the closed off section that Raphael just entered has a current, which is another trail connect to his, that leads to a large waterfall and a couple of pipes that has the waters leave for the ocean.

Because the water level has been rising because of some non-stop rain they've been having, the preteen has to be careful to not run or move too quickly, for the ground he walks on is terribly wet and if he were to make so much as one slip off the ground, no doubt the current will be carrying him to his watery grave.

"Leo, can you hear me?!" Raph hollered out, his message echoing off the walls and traveling down the tunnel he trail leads to. Nobody called back to the turtle, much to his disappointment. "C'mon, Leo, give me some sign that you're here!" Again, nothing and nobody answered back to him. Tears swelled up in his emerald-green eyes, which he refused to wipe off his face or to even acknowledge them in the moment. "Please, Leo! Give me a clue at least to help me figure out wherever you are, and get you to come back home!"

The only sound he hears are the raging waters underneath the floor he stood on, the random sewer rats who pass him by in search for food and the fading echoing of his voice carrying off into the distance. Frustration coursed throughout his entire being.

"Even when I say 'please', you still refuse to answer me..." He said to himself, clenching his hands into fists. His heart beats heavily from the discovery, but it still burns with determination and refusal to give up. "With or without your help, bro, I'm not gonna quit finding you!"

With his head held high and having a gut feeling that he's going to find his big brother, he continued on with his quest, heading for the other end of the tunnel... Only to find himself at a dead end and no more concrete to walk on, only a waterfall pouring water and a deep pool of water blocking his path. The turtle rubbed his hand on top of his head.

"A dead end?... Did I took a wrong turn, or is this as far as I can go?" Looking around, besides their being a couple of pipes hanging up higher on the walls and a few wires that are most likely old electric wires that went dead and no longer connected to any electricity, it was pretty clear it was the end of the line for the turtle and needs to head back to his father and two younger brothers.

With a heavy deep sigh and eyes downcast, Raphael turned around and slowly walked his way to where he came. Five steps into the tunnels, he ceased his walking when his ears captured the sound that sounded like a very deep gurgling coming from the water. Turning his head, he stared back at the water, where he then saw bubbles forming near the ground he was just standing at. He knew that they weren't the foam-like bubbles that waterfalls would make, but the kind of bubbles that would form when something... better yet, _somebody_, were moving in the water or releasing air from holding their breaths for too long.

Taking a few steps back to the dead end, Raph leaned in forward over the water, staring at the bubbles with major curiosity and hoping that it was a sign to tell him that it was Leonardo.

"...Leo?... Is that you?" His answer to that, is the bubbles getting bigger and a loud rumbling that almost sounded like it was telling him 'no'. _'...That ain't Leo...' _His stomach felt itself twisting into knots when the rumbling sound didn't ceased or the bubbles continues to increase its numbers and size.

_**"Ggggrrrrrrrrrrr..."**_

The rumbling sound grew, that the red-mask turtle swore that it caused an earthquake to come to New York. He lost his balance when he felt something bang itself against the concrete he stood, along with being spooked by the bubbles growing like water boiling over a hot stove, and fell on his shell. _'What's the shell's going on?!' _If he had known that thinking the question would answer his question, he would regret ever thinking it if he had known it would be answer by the sound of a large figure leaping out of the water and coming down on him.

_**"RRRRAAAAWWWWWRRRRR!"**_

Immediately, and thanks to his ninja training for enhancing his reflexes, Raphael pulled back and backflipped himself away from whatever it was that tried to jump at him... When his emerald-green eyes laid its sight on the being, his jaw dropped and immediately had a look of fear and horror when he sees a savage, blood-thirsty albino crocodile standing right in front of him and ready to take another bite at him.

From what he could see and guess, the massive beast looks like it can be thirty feet long and seems to be a few inches taller than the midrange of the five foot height, along with its weight being three-thousand or more pounds of pure muscle. The fangs are long and thick, ready to tear through flesh and solid steel. It's dagger-like claws dug into the concrete floor, making cracks and small craters to form from the beast nailing itself above the surface to not allow the current to drag him away from where he now stands. The scales, obviously, are white and appear to had been rubbed to sharpen its body. Although, for some reason, some of the scales looks as if they're falling off of its body as if it was shedding its scutes, which the crocodile could most likely be going through since crocodiles don't shed their skins like snakes do. While most of the tail hangs off of the ground and remains within the flow of the water, no doubt it was what hit against the concrete floor and could be dangerous to get near of if the turtle believes the back would be weaker than the front.

The bloodshot-red eyes of the crocodile zeroed in on Raphael, who stood paralyzed in fear from the sight of the mighty beast, sending a clear message that not only did it not appreciate the ten year-old for intruding in its territory, but now sees him as its next kill. It let loose a low growl and snapped its jaw into the air, as it slowly but calmly stalked its way towards the boy, its tail dragged out of the waters and swaying side-to-side in case it would need to be used to subdue the turtle if he tries to flee.

As it slowly approaches its prey, Raphael took a few steps back with every step it took, not really thinking on what the plan is but to keep his distance, until he tripped over a brick and once again, fell on his shell. Once he was down, the crocodile moved in and pinned the turtle down with its right-clawed hand, its long-nails inches from piercing his skin and having to use barely little strength to keep the turtle down. Raph squirmed underneath its hold, trying to break free, but proved to be a waste of effort when the beast kept him locked in place and ready to bite his head off with its massive jaw.

"Oh, god... Oh, holy mother of god..."

He knew, right there and then, that he's literally staring Death in the face and his fate is in the hands... Er, _claws_, of the white sewer crocodile and he there was nothing he can do to save himself from his fate. Not wanting to stare into the bloodlust-eyes of his soon-be killer, he had his emerald-green eyes turn their gaze to stare at something else, which is at the hand that pins him to the ground... And, to his shock and possible horror, he sees a blue-bandana tied around the beast's hand.

It's true that a lot of items are found in the sewers and a lot of humans will toss away any sort of items into the sewers, but Raphael knows that the beast didn't just gain that bandana from a human being wasteful. Just by feeling it rub off against his plastron and one of his arms, along with a faint scent of japanese incense that the turtle recognize the scent from the dojo, it's the same material Splinter used to make their masks with... Meaning that the blue-bandana, tied around the crocodile's hand, is Leonardo's blue-bandana.

The sick feeling in Raph's stomach grew, as did his anger when his gaze stayed on the bandana, which he also noticed a couple of darker-spots that isn't from being soaked in the water.

"...Where... Where did you get that bandana?" He growled out, glancing up at the face of the crocodile, who simply let loose a few hissing sounds when he spoke to it. He can also see the anger in the red-eyes, along with disgust, rage... But most of all, satisfaction and vengeance. Raph got his answered from the look in the creature's eyes, which made him even angrier. "What did you do to Leo?" The creature simply snapped its jaw into the air, trying to scare the turtle, but he didn't back down that easily this time. "What did you do to my brother?!" That time, something else answered his question: The growling sound of the crocodile's stomach.

Putting two and two together, the red-masked turtle felt his entire world fall apart. Thinking that his big brother must've also came to this closed off section, just to get away from his family and brothers in thought that they truly never cared or loved him, only to be found by the white beast and... _Eaten_... It was enough to get Raphael to slowly pull out one of his Sais from his belt, which the crocodile wasn't pinning to the ground, and, with the flick of his wrist, jabbed the middle point of his weapon straight through the monster's hand. The jab was enough to spill blood, forcing the crocodile to lift its hand off of the turtle and freeing him from its grasp. Before the beast pulled away, Raphael made a quick grab for his brother's blue-bandana, clutching it in his grasp and around the handle of his Sai.

Now free, and letting his anger get the best of him, but not before he tied the bandana around his Sai and bringing out his other Sai, he clashed the two weapons together in front of his face.

**"Teme **(You [bastard/bitch])**...!"** He snarled out, uncrossing his weapons and rubbing one over the other, forming sparks to jump off the metal and onto the wet-concrete. "I'll kill you, **Yajuu** (Monster, beast or wild animal)!" The crocodile let loose a mighty roar, daring and mocking the turtle to come at it, which it worked.

Raph charged, surprisingly keeping his feet firmly on the ground and able to avoid tripping or losing his footing, then he launched himself in the air and aimed his Sais down at the beast's head. Already having an idea on where the turtle wants his weapons to be at, the crocodile shifted itself to have its tail take over the spot where its head used to be and, when the turtle got close, whacked him to the other side of the tunnel, pushing him aside as if it was swatting a fly away.

The mere force of the creature's tail knocked the wind out of Raph and landed harshly against the wall with his shell, forcing him to release both of his weapons and to gain a major headache, as he slid down the wall and back to the ground. Taking the opportunity of having the turtle down and temporarily disoriented, the crocodile crossed the current with ease, sat the upper-half of its body above the water and aimed its snout and fangs at the turtle.

**_Move!_**

His ninja sense gave him a quick command and after shaking the ache and dizziness out of his head, after staring up to see the crocodile about to do grab him with its snout, he forced his body to roll to the left, barely able to dodge the attack just in time and for the beast to ram its head through the wall. With the creature's head still inside the whole and finding one of his Sais next to his feet, Raphael made a swipe for his weapon and launched himself in the air, aiming his weapon for its neck. Unfortunately, his timing was a bit late than he anticipated, because the albino monster pulled its head out of the hole and when it saw the turtle flying towards it, the creature once again lifted its upper-half of his body off the ground, now having the turtle's aim for its face and in front of its snout.

Too bad for the albino crocodile, for when he was about to open its mighty jaw, Raph made a risky move on tossing his weapon aside and spreading his arms wide open, landing perfect on top of the beast's snout and wrapping both arms and legs over its jaw, preventing it from opening its mouth. Looking straight into the crocodile's blood-red eyes and seeing he had prevented his enemy from opening his jaw, Raph let loose a wide smirk.

"Ha!" He mocked, keeping a firm grip on the creature' mouth. "I got your big, fat, mouth shut! What ya gonna do about it, huh?!"

That was his big mistake to do and to ask; to answer his question, the albino crocodile let loose its own smirk, followed by a rumbling sound mixed with a low hiss... Then, it forced the upper-half of its body backwards, sending the both of them back to the waterfall and into the pool of the deep water.

Before they went under, Raph was able to gasp out a mouth of air to help him last longer in the water, though when they hit the water, he almost screamed when his shell splashed into the water and a course of pain spread throughout his back from being slammed against the wall, shell first. Instead of screaming his pain, he clenched his mouth shut and tightened his grip onto the monster's snout, refusing to let go of his enemy.

Annoyed and irritated by its prey keeping a firm grip on his mouth, the albino crocodile tried to shake him off by jerking his head from side-to-side. The ten year-old didn't let go. It then dived up for the surface and, with the upper-half of its body out of the water, tried to shake him off and even slammed its head back into the water. That time, Raph's grip slipped from the water and being slammed back into the water, sending him flying back into the water.

The gator dived back down and swam after the boy, who struggled to get back to the surface. It then opened its mouth, all his fangs aimed for the boy's head, and clamped down hard... It missed the turtle's head, but it grabbed of the tail of his bandana. Feeling it has something within the hold of his teeth, the albino crocodile performed the Death Roll, spinning its body as fast as a boat propeller would spin when at full throttle. In just five spins, the tails of the bandana shred, and Raph, feeling himself slipping and getting a bit dizzy, shifted himself to face the beast's head and clamped himself back down on the crocodile's snout.

Beyond angry that its prey's putting up a fight and that he missed biting the boy's head, it decided that it was time to put an end to this childish game. It ceased the Death Roll, launched itself and Raph out of the pool, landing harshly back into the tunnel on its belly and rammed its head against the wall. The harsh pain of having his shell and back of his head slammed against the wall, again, got Raph to let go and to cry out in pain, sliding down the wall and to lay on his side when he finally found himself on the ground. He lifted only the upper-half of his body off the ground and placed a hand on his head, trying to shake off the pain and dizziness inside his head.

With its prey trying to regain focus to what's going on and to put up another fight, the monster stomped over to the turtle and, once again, held him down to the floor. Only, this time, it chose to slam its paws on Raphael's legs, forcing a cry of pain and fear out of the turtle when one of it's claws embedded itself into the ten year-old's right-leg. Blood surfacing from underneath the claw and the palm of its hand pressed down hard to damage his left-ankle.

"AUGH!" Raphael had no doubt that he would scream his lungs out. Never in his entire life had he screamed out so loud, that the humans from above would probably be able to hear his cry of pain. He tried to wrench the crocodile's claw out of his leg, but the sharp-nail stayed firm in its place, slowly digging further for the tip to nearly scrape against the bone. And with both his Sais far from his reach, he has no use of weapon to help him fight off with his enemy.

Once again, he's in the mercy and staring up fearing into the blood-eyes of the albino crocodile. This time, he has no possible chance on getting himself free or to continue on putting up a fight... He now accepts his fate of dying, and he's not going to get the chance to say goodbye to his family or to even tell Leonardo that he was sorry.

Gritting his teeth together and allowing the tears to stream down his face, Raphael laid his head down on the concrete floor, showing no sign on fighting back and letting the albino crocodile know he's surrendering.

"**Gomen'nasai **(I'm sorry) Leo... I'm so sorry." He whispered to himself, slowly closing his eyes to envision his big brother as the last thing he wanted to see and not the killer that's going to eat him. "...I love you, bro."

* * *

**Leonardo's POV**

_"AUGH!"_

I lifted my head when I heard a scream echoing off the walls and down the tunnels of the sewers. My Cerulean/Sapphire-eyes widen in horror when I heard the cry; I knew that cry from anywhere. I knew that scream of pain. I know the voice of the one who cries out in pain and fear... I know who it was, because that scream belongs to my brother, Raphael.

I sniffed the air and let loose a low snarl when I smelled not only my brother, but I also smelled his blood... And, the scent that albino monstrosity that rules the West parts of New York's Sewer: White Death, the Sewer Monster.

**"Leo? What's wrong?"** I turned to **Mamoru***, a black-rat with white on his stomach and over his eyes, who hopped on my shell from behind when he heard me snarl.

"White Death." I growled out, forcing a hiss and the rise of his fur from the rat from simply saying the creature's name. "And he has one of my brothers." He cocked his head to the side in confusion. He knows that I have brothers, but isn't sure which of my brothers I'm referring to.

**"Which one?" **I gave him a sad glance in my eyes.

"...The one who wished I die." His brown-eyes widen from the information, then he hopped off my shoulder, standing in front of me with fear in his eyes. He know that if I can smell the monster's scent anywhere near from our scavenging areas or turf, then it means he's coming for us and/or whatever else he can find while searching for food.

**"We must warn the others and head back to the Colony!" **He informed me, sprinting underneath me towards the direction we came from. **Mamoru's** right that we must leave before White Death comes after us, but my blood ran cold on the thought on what he could do to my brother and to the rest of my pack if the monster finds them.

My heart beat heavily from the thought of my hotheaded brother, wanting to head for White Death's Den and rescue Raphael from being eaten, but also reminded by the hurtful words he told me... The very reason to why I ran away from the den in the first place, and now living with a colony of rats in the eastern parts of the city's sewer... Which, honestly, I'm more happy to be in than upset and/or angry, even though I'm very hurt and upset of the situation.

I was about to follow **Mamoru**, but just a single step towards his direction, my body froze still and my protective instincts as the big brother demanded that I go save Raphael.

_What are you doing?! Raph needs you! Go to him!_

I shook his head.

_'No, he doesn't._' I thought to himself, glaring down at my reflection of the calming current of the sewer water underneath the floor I walk on. _'__He and the others are no longer my responsibility. Besides,__' I_ stared up to the tunnel in front of me. _'The Colony's my new pack, my **new** responsibility, that I must protect. Splinter will save him.'_ I took another step forward and immediately, I felt like a kick in the stomach when I sensed my Conscience not being the only one who's fighting me.

_**PUP DARES TO ABANDON KIN?! ABANDON OWN FLESH AND BLOOD, TO BE KILLED BY CLAWS OF WHITE DEATH?! COWARD! TRAITOR!**_

The headache build up inside my head and I would've fall into the ankle-length water, if I wasn't on all-four and my hands didn't catch me when I lost my balance for a moment.

_**PUP SWORE TO PROTECT KINS AND ALPHA FROM HARM, NOT RUN OFF SCARED WITH TAIL BETWEEN LEGS! PUP MADE PROMISE TO NEVER LEAVE PACK UNPROTECTED!**_

I let out a roar of a snarl, slamming my own head against the wall to try and beat the pain inside my head with pain, itself.

_'Newsflash, in case you forgotten: I already left them!' _I yelled in his mind, oblivious to Mamoru had ceased his running and came back to me, concerned when he heard my snarl of frustration and anger. _'And don't think that I wanted to leave them; I would've stayed and continue watching over them, protecting them from those who would harm us! However, Raphael made it very clear __that they don't need me, let alone wanted me in the beginning!' I_ then slammed my hand into the water, not caring what was in the water that splashed back at me. _'MY GOD, HOW MANY TIMES DO I NEED TO KEEP ARGUING WITH YOU BOTH THAT IT'S OVER?!"_

_Until we get through to your thickhead that your family needs you, as much as you need them!_

_'...They don't need me... They never needed me in the first place...'_

Despite knowing to stay away from me when having an argument with my instincts and/or Conscience, Mamoru urgently padded his paw up at my arm to regain my attention.

**"Leo, c'mon! We need to go!" **The rat reminded me, pointing a paw over to the tunnel they came from. I simply panted deeply, my eyes staring up at the tunnel.

_'...I'm done being their protector, when they won't accept me for who I am or even let me be what I want to be.'_ I growled out. _'...I'm free, like I should've been years ago, and have a new family who welcomes me with open arms.' _Shaking the small droplets of water off of my maskless face, I lowered my head and took a third step forward, trying to fight off the tremor coursing through my body while forcing myself to ignore the urge to go save my younger brother, who told me a moon ago that I was a burden in the family and should've never been with them.

_You take one more step for the Colony, and you'll regret it for the rest of your life!_

I froze in my step, then slowly sat down on the ground and leaned my head up against the brick-wall. I let out a deep sigh and closed my eyes.

_'I'll admit that I am a coward for turning my on saving Raphael... I'll even admit that I am a traitor for leaving his fate into the claws of White Death and will always be a traitor in the pack, But know this: The __result of Raph's undoing is on him, not me. I had nothing to do with it and as sure as hell wanted to play in any part on getting him killed.'_

**_If Pup hadn't left den, left _**_pack_**_, Beta-Brother Raphael wouldn't be in claws of White Death!_**

_'Even if I'm the reason he went into White Death's territory, he knew and was told to never go off into the closed off sections of the sewers. Again, it's on him and not me.'_

Silence went by, besides the nervous squeaks **Mamoru** would give out, until I finally gotten a reply.

_...What if Father had them, or worse, **allowed** them, to go search for you in the closed off section of the sewers?... What if Raph went into White Death's territory and Father doesn't even know about it? Would he still be rescued, or would it be too late and White Death goes off searching for the rest of your family?_

_'...' I_ knew what the answer to that means, but I didn't know what sort of excuse to think to prove my point that I wasn't needed.

_**Pup knows Beta-Brother Raphael will be killed by White Death... And once Beta-Brother dies, rest of pack will die and blame will be on Pup.**_

My cerulean/sapphire-eyes widen from the information, despite knowing it's the truth.

_'__...What?' _A low growl came out of my throat, my hands clenching into fists and leaving scratch markings onto the concrete ground.

_You know what'll happen if Raph dies; Father will be depressed, struggle to keep going for Don and Mikey, until he either takes his own life or get caught and killed by his past enemy. When that'll happen, Don and Mikey won't be able to take care of themselves, and will eventually be with Raph and Father in the Afterlife._

_'...And it'll be my fault... I would be the cause of my pack's death, even though I'm doing what I believe would make them happen and protect them from danger...' _Low whimpering and a few whines came out of my throat, my fangs clenching against each other and eyes held back tears.

_**Pup's heart in right place, but Pup's action and decision is wrong... Pup swore to be there for Kins and Alpha, no matter what, and Pup must fulfill promise.**_

I knew, right there and then, that my instincts and Conscience are right; I made a promise, a promise by my own _blood_, that I will protect my pack and will always be there for them... Even if it meant they never loved me and disowned me from the clan, I'll still be there to save their lives, gladly exchange their lives with my own to make it right. The decision has been made.

**"Leo? Are you alright?" Mamoru** questioned me, cocking his head to the side when he saw the anger on my face replaced with a calm expression and my eyes held with fire. **"Are you ready to head back to the Colony?" **I stared down at the rat and shook my head.

"Sorry, **Mamoru**, but you're gonna have to warn the others and head back to the Colony, without me." **Mamoru's** eyes grew from my response.

**"What? Why?! We need to leave if White Death's actually heading our way and warn the others! Why aren't you coming ba...!" **Within a few seconds, he immediately get and understood what was going on. **"...You're going after White Death." I** solemnly nod my head. He gave me a glare of hate and anger, but it wasn't towards me. **"Why should you go after White Death and get yourself killed, when it's your own brother's fault! He and the rest of your previous pack-members are the reason why you're living in the sewers! Heck, look at you!" **He sat on his hind-legs and gestured to my appearance. **"You almost died the last time you fought White Death, because of them!... Why throw away the freedom you finally gained to go back and save him, when they never cared for you and disowned you from the pack?!"**

Despite making the decision, I also wonders why I would do it, when an answer from somewhere inside of my heart gave me an answer to tell him.

"He may have renounced his claim of me being his brothers and disowned me of being family, but he's still my brother by blood, just as the rest of my previous pack is still my family by blood and I still care for them, even if they no longer care for me." I then calmly turned around and made my way across the water, standing in front of the tunnel I heard my brother's cry of screams came out from. I then stared at **Mamoru**. "I also made a promise, _swore_ by my own blood, that no matter what, I'll always be there... Even if it means they disown me, or lead me to my death." I gave **Mamoru** a sad smile. "I'll try to avoid getting myself killed and return to the Colony as soon as I can, but should I fail... then give everyone my gratitude for accepting me into the family."

_Who said anything about you going back to the Colony after this?_

_'I only agree to saving Raphael from White Death, I didn't agree to go back to the den. Whether I stay with the Colony or go back to the pack that never loved me from the start, will be my decision to make... I'll still look out for them from afar and be there if they're in any sort of danger, but that will be all.'_

_**...Very well, Pup. At least Pup will still keep promise on protecting pack and be happier living with Colony, motivate Pup to watch over pack... Go, and rescue Beta-Brother Raphael from White Death!**_

Earning a nod from **Mamoru**, with tears being shed for me, and watching him scurry to the Colony on his own, I let loose a low growl and, getting on all-four, sprinted down the tunnel. By using my sense of smell as my guide and following the sound of growling, I ran through three tunnels and two closed off sections to find myself at White Death's den... With the sight of the white beast pinning my brother to the ground, blood surfacing from Raph's leg because of a claw digging into his flesh, ready to have him as his dinner.

"**Gomen'nasai **(I'm sorry) Leo... I'm so sorry." My heart clenched at Raph's apology. His words still hurt me and I knew he meant it if he held it inside for so long, but even before I heard his apology, I still forgiven him. He may had told me he hated me, but my love for my brother will never fade away... Even if part of my heart and soul feels nothing for him and the rest of the pack. "...I love you, bro." Another clenching feeling in the heart, but I fought off the feeling; now wasn't the time to get all emotional, because White Death had opened his mighty jaws, attempting to grab for Raphael and ending his life to eat him.

**"It was fun while it lasted, Shrimp. Time for me to eat!"**

I let out a low growl, stopping White Death from using any of his long-fangs from grabbing for my brother.

**"What was that?"**

_**Now, Pup! Strike!**_

Pulling out a weapon I've made on my own from my belt, I sprinted down and launched myself in the air. The albino beast lifted his head to the sound of my snarl, but wasn't quick enough to dodge my attack when my weapon came down at him and slashed at his right-eye.

**"AH, FU-! MY EYE!"**

He let out a roar of pain, removing his hand that pinned Raphael to the floor. I landed behind White Death, narrowly dodging his thrashing tail, before I shifted myself to stare back at him and, seeing he lifted his right-foot, I charged underneath him and used all of my strength to flip him on his side by shoving his stomach with my shell.

**"What the hell?!"**

He fell on his back, stilling roaring and trying to nurse his bleeding right-eye, giving me enough time to get to Raphael, who still had his eyes closed and had shielded his face with both arms held out in front, and drag him a couple of feet away from my enemy. Taking a good look at him, he was soaked to the bone and his right-leg is badly hurt, a stab wound to almost being broken from how deep the claw went into his leg.

_'Raphael's lucky that White Death prefers to play with his kill and toy with them, before he decided to break every bone in his body and then use the Death Roll.' _I let out a low growl, watching White Death roll himself back on his feet and try to focus his attention on who got him in the eye. _'One of these days, Raphael's stupidity is going to get himself killed.' _"I knew you were an idiot, but I'd hope you would be smart enough to not go to the closed off sections of the sewers... Guess I was wrong."

I heard him gasp out a deep breath, no doubt stunned and shock to be seeing me standing before him.

"Le... Leo?" I simply gave him a disappointed gaze, folded my arms in front of my chest and calmly shaking my head.

"Your lack of smart hasn't changed a bit."

* * *

**Raphael's POV**

I never thought I would ever be so happy to hear and see my big brother before me, until now, after he pulled me away from the monster and stood in front of me before my eyes... And be so horrified by the appearance of his condition.

"Le... Leo?" I whispered, not sure if I'm actually seeing him right and the cause for my terrible sight is my bleeding leg. Staring up at the turtle, standing beside me, isn't the same turtle who was the eldest son of Hamato "Splinter" Yoshi, or the big brother Don, Mikey and I recognized knew is our big brother.

The turtle before me is completely covered in scars, fangs and claw-markings carved up in his plastron and shell that I knew was done by the white beast that almost ate me. They looked painful but, luckily, didn't appear deep to have his shell and/or plastron cracked or chipped off and will fade away into non-existing scars.

The scratch and bite-marks also ran down his arms, legs, neck and back of his head, including a crescent-like moon scar over his right-eye. The scratches on his left-leg and the back of his head, along with the bite-marks on his right-arm, had an odd dark-coloring, which I hope were simply bruises and not a sign of infection... Which I, unfortunately, believe it is, which would explain why he looks ill and why he can't seem to stand up straight without swaying or having to use the wall to support him up. Also, because the wounds with the odd-coloring had a bad smell that wasn't good to know.

And... Dear god! I thought he was skinny back at home, but now... Damn it! He's nothing but skin and bone underneath that shell of his! If he wasn't able to get that sewer crocodile on its back, I'd think he lost all of his muscle and became a walking skeleton that still has its skin. And without his blue-bandana covering his eyes, I could see he hasn't been sleeping well from the black-marking underneath his dull, hardened eyes.

Nevertheless, despite his startling appearance, I'm happy to have finally found my big brother, after a whole month of endless searching for the brother I feared to have lead him to his own death. I've missed him so much, that all I wanted to do was give him hug and never let him go. I missed him so much, that I even miss the way he teases or remarks about my lack of smarts.

"Your lack of smart hasn't changed a bit." On second thought, I didn't actually miss him always teasing me, let alone remind me, on how I'm a hothead and have the mind of a raging bull with no mind to think. Well, I have something to say to him.

"Well, I wouldn't had came here, if a certain _someone_ didn't ran away from home in the first place!" I stated, giving him my own glare and tried to get back to my feet, only for the pain to shot out from my right-leg and grab at my injured leg. I didn't notice Leo bringing my Sais back to me, until I saw him holding out his blue-bandana I tied around one of the Sais and tied it on the wound.

**"Baka** (Idiot)**,"** he muttered to me. I winced when he tightened the bandana around my wound, but I didn't stop him from wrapping it up, knowing that putting pressure on a bleeding wound will clot the blood and stop any more blood loss. "You're lucky that I heard your cry, or you would've been White Death's meal for the day." I cocked my head to the side to what he just said. White Death? Who the shell's White Death?

I was too caught up on keeping my attention on my brother, that I've forgotten about that white beast, until I heard a loud thump in the water and a loud hiss coming from behind Leo. He had a smirk on his face and, after he finished bandaging my injured leg, he turned his back to me and now between me and the monster in front of him.

"It's been a while, hasn't it, White Death?"

* * *

**Leonardo's POV  
**

After I finished tying my blue-bandana around Raph's injured leg, I turned my attention back to White Death, who finally stopped his crying of his eye and gave me the deadliest look I've ever seen in his blood-lust eye.

"It's been a while, hasn't it, White Death?" I properly greeted, smirking from the blood oozing out of his closed right-eye and satisfied I left a painful mark on him, just has he done to me the last time we fought.

**"You...! What the hell are you doing here, in my territory?! My den, no less?!" **Yep, he's mad as hell. Good.

_**Keep taunting White Death, Pup. Have White Death's focus on you and away from Beta-Brother Raphael.**_

"What's the matter, White Death? I thought you would be pleased to be seeing me, again, especially after that friendly fight we had together."

That fight I was talking about, it wasn't friendly in the least; it was a blood slaughter fight and it was the only fight I had with the monster when we met. I accidentally wondered into one of his territories and stole a couple of fishes from the water he was planning on getting, himself. I offered to let him have the fishes, but had decided to teach me a valuable lesson on what happens if you take food from the sewer monster that's supposed to be his kill. I fought as hard as I could, using only my ninja skills and fangs since I left my Katanas back with Splinter and the others, but I stood no chance against White Death.

I ended up with scratch and bite marks on my shell and plastron, which he nearly cracked and ripped off if I hadn't gotten out of his grip and/or attacking him in the mouth, deep cuts in my left-leg, back of my head and right-arm that got badly infected, and a permanent crescent-moon scar over my right-eye that I nearly lost. I thought he was going to finish me off or worse, eat me, but for some reason, he chose to take my catch and left me to die, taking my blue-bandana with him. And I would've, too, if the rats hadn't came to aid me in my time of need.

Ever since that dreadful fight, I trained myself to one day take another crack at the beast... And now is that time. I gave him a hateful-glare.

"You should've killed me when you had that chance, White Death. And now, you're gonna wish that you had, cause now I'm gonna show you what happens when you try to eat one of my brothers." I heard Raphael once let out a gasp, which I assume he's stun that I would still refer to him as my brother, but I ignored him for the time being. Right now, I need to keep my focus on the monster before me. I then flashed the monster a daring smile. "And I think I'll teach you that lesson, by using a certain souvenir you left me with a month ago."

I held up my weapon, which is a fang from White Death, himself... Actually, believe it or not, this fang I have before in my hand, is the oldest tooth the beast had all his life. Not once in his entire life from the day he hatched, had this fang of his came out and regrew itself and had been with him in all his life... Until I kicked it out of his mouth and had him leave with a missing fang in the process from the fight we had a month ago. Staring at the fang in my hand, he let a tongue slide out of his snout and rub against a fang that I see has fully grown to replace the missing fang.

"It's as the old say goes: An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." He hissed at my remark, thumping his tail roughly into the water. "Looks like you already moved on and had already regrown a new tooth to replace this old one, which is great. You look a lot better without that missing fang of yours."

**"You're going to pay for what you did to my fang back then, mutt. And this time, I won't make the same mistake on letting you live!" **He snarled, banging his tail against the wall and scraping his claws against the floor.

"Best luck to that, Dead-Eye McGee." I taunted, before I turned my attention back to my brother, who now has both his weapons in his grasp and is trying to get to his feet. He'll end up being a major distraction, a hindrance, if he stays and tries to help me fight. "Raphael, leave this place." I ordered him, staring back at my opponent.

"What?! No way, Leo! I'm not gonna leave you here and get eaten by that monster!" I knew he was going to refuse, but even he knows that he'll only get in the way. "Besides, there's no way I'm going back to the Lair without you!"

_See? He not only apologized to you, but has also admitted that he wants to take you back home. That proves that he does cares and love you._

_'Now, isn't the time to talk me into going back to the Lair. Right now, I have a sewer monster to take care of.'_

_**Pup's right; time to fight!**_

"...Whatever, just stay back here and out of the way; you're in no condition to fight." I didn't bother to wait for his reply, as I took a few steps forward to stand in front of the monster's snout. He smirked at my boldness at standing face-to-face with him.

**"Hope you said your goodbye to your brother; it'll be the last time you'll get to see him." **He told me, then lifted the upper-half of his body in the air and let loose a mighty roar. **"Get ready to die, mix-blood!" **I simply twirled my weapon in my right-hand and crouch low to the ground, letting out a snarl of my own.

"Let's end this, Allidile!"

* * *

**Normal POV**

Hearing what Leonardo just said to him, White Death's left-eye widen that the ten year-old knew what he really was, but pushed that thought aside and forced his upper-half to land back down to the ground. At that moment, Leo launched himself in the air, over the monster's head and onto his back. Then, grasping the fang with both hand and leaning over, jabbed the fang into the monster's side and pulled back, blood surfacing underneath the fang.

Feeling a tearing at his underbelly at his side, White Death let out a hiss of pain and tried to turn at his side to snap his mouth at the boy to get him off his back. Leo leaned back, pulling the fang out of the monster's side, and flip himself to the left-side off the allidile.

**_Duck!_**

The sound of rushing wind came from behind, the approaching sound of White Death's tail coming down to whack the boy. Leo ducked as his instinct told him to do, but didn't see on time that the tail was a distraction.

_Look out!_

Before he saw it coming, the left-foot of White Death slammed down on his chest, pinning him to the ground like Raphael was pinned.

"Leo!" His brother called out, trying to get back to his feet but ends up crumbling back to the ground and forced to watch White Death pressing down harder to crush his big brother into the pavement.

Feeling useless and at fault for Leo's would-be death, Raph stared down at his hands... Where his emerald-green eyes sees one of his Sais glistering in the faint light, as if telling him 'you know what to do'. Clenching his hand around the handle of the Sai in his right and, staring up to glare angrily at the turned head of the monster, the ten year-old leaned himself against the wall and, with all his might, tossed his weapon... It hit its target: The ridge of the right-side of his neck.

White Death let out a roar when he felt something sharp pierced into his neck and, when he turned to see it was Raphael that tossed his weapon at him and seeing the Sai sticking out of its neck, Leo felt the pressure leaving off of his chest. Seeing an opening to strike and to remind the allidile who he's fighting with, the maskless turtle jabbed the fang beneath the ball of the albino's foot. Making sure it would put the monster at a disadvantage, he shoved the fang deeper into the foot until he hit bone and jerked it to the side to have the tip slam into the bone.

He then yanked his weapon out of the foot, forcing out another roar from White Death, and leap into the air, aiming the blood-covered fang for the head-area. Despite having to writhe in pain from both his neck and foot, White Death was ready for the boy's attack from the air and, turning over, used his tail to whack him off to the other side of the tunnel. However, thinking he would slam into the wall like Raph did, he crossed the current way and launched himself out of the water, its mouth gaped open to grab the turtle the moment he hits the wall.

Before he hit the wall, Leo placed his weapon to his face to have his teeth hold on to his weapon and, shifting his body to prevent his back from being slammed, he landed on the brick-wall on his hand and feet to break his fall and launch himself forward. Shocked to have seen his enemy saved himself in the nick of time and not having enough time to snap his jaw at the boy when he landed on his snout to leap away and snapping nothing but the air, White Death rammed his head against the wall.

Landing off to the right-side of the allidile on all-four, Leonardo turned to his stunned eye brother.

"Raphael, his eye!" He cried out, having his weapon back in his hand and charging at the stunned monster. "Do it, now!"

Shaking his head to rid away his stunned look and, focusing his second Sai at the monster's undamaged eye, Raph took a deep breath and flung his weapon across the tunnel. White Death heard the sound of rushing wind coming for him, but only had enough time to turn his head and see what was coming at him, before the weapon pierced into his eye and saw nothing but darkness and pain shooting throughout his body.

At the very moment the sai hit its mark Leo slid on his shell and, quickly pulling out the first sai out of the ridge of the neck, jabbed the fang underneath the throat and allowed gravity and wind to help him drag his weapon deep into White Death's throat. Once the fang was out of the flesh, Leo shifted on his right-side to pull the second sai out of White Death's left-eye, who was all but thrashing and hitting the wall and ground.

**"Quit helping each other, damn hatchlings!" **He snarled, blindly attacking nothing but the air, wall, ground and water around him. **"Why would you both be working together, when he and the rest of your previous pack cast you out of their clan?! Why are you even here in the first place, when it was _he_ who I have the right to punish for trespassing onto my territory?!"**

Leonardo simply let out a calming sigh, his eyes focusing on the movement of his enemy until he saw the perfect opportunity to make his finishing blow.

"I already told you before, White Death, at our last fight we had a moon ago: We're a pack..." Leo twirled the fang in his hand, flung himself in the air for a third time, landing perfectly on the beast's neck. "And a pack fights as a team, protects one another and _never_ abandon their own... Even if that pack member is no longer welcomed in the pack."

Without any hesitation, he plunged the fang into the side of the neck at the base of the skull at the right. When White Death reared back and let out his snarl of agonizing pain, Leo pulled the fang out from its spot and pulled at the monster's bleeding neck while leaning back, forcing the gator to lean farther back and to plummet into the strong current of the waters. Before the monster fell into the water, the ten year-old had allowed himself to slide off the mighty beast and use White Death's snout as a springboard to help him leap back to where Raphael remained still in his spot.

Both ten year olds saw White Death's body disappear into the fast current, vanishing as if he was just a figment of their imagination. If not for the cracks against the wall and floor, the hole in the brick-wall, the trail of blood left by the monster and a dark, murky-red color in the water that the current carried down the tunnel, they would've believed that it was just their imagination.

There was no sign of White Death coming back up and, with the air smelling of copper and water, it was all Leonardo needed to tell him that this closed off section of the sewer is no longer a danger or threat to him or to his pack: White Death has been slain.

_'And that's the end of the Sewer Monster, White Death.' _He thought to himself, wiping the fang against his belt to get rid of the blood that he used to spill his opponent's blood with and placing it back underneath the belt against his shell. He let out a deep sigh, allowing all his fear and worry of White Death to flow away like the current in front of him and his brother.

_...You did it... You actually did it!... You've defeated White Death!_

**_Pup has done well. Pup finally put end to the reign of White Death, and now sewers of city safe for pack and colony to roam. No more fear or worry of albino devil._**

_'Yeah... Finally...' _Leo thought to himself, before he, out of respect of Bushido and an honorable samurai/ninja, placed his right-fist in the open palm of his left-hand and gave a low bow to where he saw White Death vanished within the waters. _'Despite your __cruelty, traitorous plot to fight and kill those who're weaker than yourself, even for your bloodlust for power and dominates, you've fought well... May you rest in peace and be but a fainting memory of the past, White Death... Let's head back to the colony and have them spread the word to the others.'_

"...Leo?" A voice from behind regained his attention, reminding the maskless turtle the reason he fought the allidile and that he isn't alone.

_**First thing's first, Pup. Get Beta-Brother Raphael out of White Death's former den and back to pack.**_

_'...Right.' _He calmly made his way to his brother, kneeling in front of his stunned but concerned brother. He stared at his blood-covered blue-bandana, seeing that the flow of blood exiting the wound has lessen and, taking a quick sniff at the wound, doesn't smell like it's getting infected. He gently placed his hand over the bandana, adding a bit of pressure to feel the wound. It forced out a wince of pain out of Raph, but the soothing touch of his brother didn't hurt as much as the allidile's claws did. _'It doesn't look completely broken, but no doubt it could be a minor fracture to the tibia. He won't be able to walk for the next moon, but should make a full recovery if he doesn't push himself.'_

_Luckily, White Death's den isn't too far from the Lair... He'll have to lean on you to move and, judging from the size of his muscle had increased a bit the last time we saw them, he'll be too heavy to carry._

"Can you stand?" Leo asked his brother, hoping that his judgement on the leg isn't wrong and that he doesn't have to carry him on his shell if the leg is broken. Understanding what his big brother's asking and rather than answer, Raphael placed his right hand on the wall and forced his trembling body to stand.

"I, agh-!" He stumbled a bit, but used the wall on his right to prevent himself from falling back to the ground. "Got it.. Ugh." Leo rolled his eyes.

**_Stubborn Kin. Even when Beta-Brother Raphael just stared death in face and could've had both legs shattered instead of fractured leg, he still refuses to ask for help._**

_'Did you really expect Raph to change that much while I was with the colony, besides building up his muscles like he always do?' _He walked over to his brother and, before Raph knew what his brother was going to do and try to protest, draped his right-arm over his shoulders to have the red-masked turtle to lean on him. "I asked if you can stand, not to damage your leg any further by attempting to walk." Raph blushed in embarrassment on having to lean on his big brother, but his eyes widen from the information he was just told.

"You mean my leg's...?" Leo shook his head.

"It's not broken, but it almost did and is simply fractured." He explained to his brother, slowly leading them down the tunnels away from White Death's den and having Raph to hop with each step he made. "You're not going to be able to walk, without either the aid of a wheelchair or crutches, or do any training for the next month." Raph narrowed his eyes and growled in anger at the news of not being able to train for over a month. Leo let out a low chuckle. "Hey, be glad you're taking a lighter punishment than you would've had to go through and that White Death likes to play with his food before he eats them, or else the situation could've been worse and you wouldn't be walking for six months."

"...How is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"Simple. You would've had both your legs shattered and would be tortured by Michelangelo from him doodling all over your casts, or annoying TV shows he watches to drive you crazy and won't stop blabbering to you when you won't be able to get up and pummel him to the ground." A small passed by the two ten year olds, then Raph had a smile on his face and let out a chuckle of his own.

"...Yeah, you're right, that does make me feel a lot better. But that doesn't mean I won't be having nightmares about that giant crocodile nearly eating me, twice."

_'No doubt he'll be having nightmares of White Death for weeks.' _"Splinter will make you some chamomile tea to help you sleep."

"Well, judging on how tired and exhausted we are from having to take down a massive ton of pure muscles with fangs that could've ripped us to shreds, we both can use some of that chamomile tea to help us get some well earned rest from fighting a sewer monster. Mikey and Don are not going to believe us when we get back to the Lair and tell them what happened, huh?"

Leo stayed silent at Raph's remarks, keeping his eyes and focus on walking them down the tunnel, his only distraction to avoid making eye contact with the red-mask turtle and to not answer his question.

_'You're wrong, Raphael. I'm not going to return to the den with you... Once we're outside of the closed off section, I'm gonna knock you out the very moment your eyes are focused for the direction towards the den and leave you near the lair, where Splinter and the others will find you, safe from harms way and tend to your injured leg.'_

Besides seeing a few rats that Leo knew aren't from the colony he's living in and the water never ceasing its speed, along with having his larger brother leaning a bit more on him as if gravity's trying to drag him down, the quietness was peaceful for the maskless turtle.

"You know? That was kinda fearless of you." Leo turned to stare at his brother, confusion written on his face, who gazed back at him with a smirk of a smile on his own face. "What you did back there, bro, fighting that giant sewer gator, that was fearless... Although, I don't get why you were talking to it, as if you two were having a conversation on your own." He turned his head away from his brother's words, staring down at the ground.

"I wasn't being fearless back there, Raphael." He told his brother. "I was simply taking care of a feud that's been going on between me and White Death for a whole month. As for me talking to White Death while fighting with him... Don't think for a second that he's a mindless animal, Raphael; he's far more intelligent than the average reptile you'll ever know."

Raph shook his head, the smirk still placed on his face.

"Feud or not, you saved me back there. I would've been dog meat to that gator, if you hadn't came before he could've shattered my legs."

Guilt ran through the older turtle's body, not in the least feeling happy or proud to have rescued his brother from harm.

_'...I need to tell him. He must know the truth and must be given a reminder to why he despised me in the first place.' _Leo stopped in his tracks. "...I wasn't planning on saving you." A pause went by the two brothers.

"...What?" The red-masked turtle asked in shock.

_'There it is. First the confusion, then the anger, until his rage finally blows over. Best get it over with and explain myself to him, before he demands that I leave and never show my face in the sewers, again.' _"I wasn't going to save you. In fact, I was going to leave you and let Splinter find you to do the rescuing, himself." He stared down at the raging water, his reflection appearing all fuzzy and stretched. "When you told me that you wish I wasn't your brother, you were also implying that you didn't want anything to do with me and don't want me to be there for you. I knew that coming for you would make you angry and more of a reason to hate me, that I decided to respect your wishes and leave you... But I couldn't, because no matter what, whether you despise and/or hate me enough to cast me out of the Clan, you're still my brother. _All_ of you are still my family, that I'd still be there whenever you're in danger or in need of help."

_...That was very touching. And you really mean it, too._

_'From the depths of my heart... The part that truly do cares and loves them, the part that I'd actually bonded with them, I meant it... But, now that he knows that I never really intended to come and save him, he'll push me aside and would want me to leave, never to show myself anywhere near him or the rest of the pack, again... And I won't blame for it.'_

He waited for the yelling, the screaming, the anger, _anything_ to come out of his brother for learning the truth. However, neither of those options came out. Instead,

"...Well, then boy am I glad that you did came for me." Cerulean/sapphire-eyes widen from the emerald-green-eyed turtle, who simply had a smug smile on his face and gave a couple of reassuring pats on Leo's shell. "I really mean it, bro, and a good thing that you did came, whether I'd get angry or not." A sort of burning feeling burnt up inside his chest and a cold feeling filled up his empty stomach.

_'He... He can't be serious!'_

_Sounds like he's very serious and you know that. He's silently apologizing to you and from the way he's admitting to you that he meant what he just said to you, is his way on saying how much he really missed yo-_

_'No, not that! He can't be alright with what just happened! He knew that he'd be dead if I hadn't shown up, hadn't chose to listen and get to him! How dare he treat this situation like it was some joke?!' _"How can you say that?" He growled out, glaring at his brother and slightly tightening his grip on the arm over his shoulders. "I almost left you to die by the claws of White Death! I would've ignore your scream of pain, pretend like it never happened, and let you get eaten...! How can you say, be _alright_, with that when I could've been the cause of your death?!"

The smug on Raph's face instantly vanished and replaced with a firm, calm gaze. He let out a deep sigh.

"Because it wasn't your fault that this all happened to begin with," he answered. "It was my fault that I came here, not yours. The very moment Sensei, the guys and I split up, I came to this closed off section of the sewers, which I shouldn't had done. Master Splinter decided that after going through the routes we would take and the safe parts of the sewers and if we couldn't find you, then he would gave us the okay to go search for you at the forbidden parts of the sewers."

**_Foolish Beta-Brother. Kin basically placed self in claws of White Death by ignoring Alpha's words and disobeyed order Beta-Brother was given... Pup's not at fault for Beta-Brother Raphael near-death moment with White Death._**

_Yeah, but the only reason he went into White Death's territory is because he was simply looking for his brother. So, technically, half of it is his fault that Raph almost died._

"Also..." A pause came between the two brothers, until found his voice to talk again. "It's also my fault that you ran away in the first place, because from what I said to you." Emerald-green eyes stared down at their unmoving feet, shame and self-loathing held within his gaze. "I never meant what I said to you, Leo. I never hated you and neither did the others, not once did we ever think on hoping or even wished that you weren't our brother to begin with." He stared back to his brother, tears swelled up in his eyes through his mask. "I know that apologizing isn't enough and I won't blame you if it's already too late to even say it, Leo, but... Ugh, why is it so hard to say it?!"

While the red-masked turtle tries to get the words to come out, Leonardo let his attention focus on the water and to the sounds around them.

_**Beta-Brother Raphael speaks no lie... Though kin's stubbornness prevents kin from saying it and despite barking out anger on how Beta-Brother Raphael felt towards Pup a moon ago, Beta-Brother wish for Pup's forgiveness and rekindle bond kin has with Pup.**_

He didn't say or could even think of any word to say to that.

_You'll forgive him, right?_

Leo remained silent.

_...You are going to forgive Raph, aren't you?_

Nothing...

Raph took a deep breath, feeling a bit ready to finally say what he should've told the maskless turtle a month ago. He was about to speak out the first word that popped in his mind...

"You're right about one thing, Raph." He whispered, gaining his brother's attention and stopping him from trying to say those three words. "I'm different from the rest of you... I'm not like you three and Master Splinter, and will never be like you guys." Emerald-green eyes widen, stunned by what his brother just said.

"Leo-" The maskless turtle held out a hand.

"I already forgave you for what you said to me, Raph." Calling him by his nickname and not by his full name, which only Splinter would always call the turtle by, made Raphael happy and relieved that his big brother isn't angry at him. "However," the smile on Raph's face immediately went away. "know that it's hard for me to try and forget the choice of your action that occurred a month ago... I'm sorry."

Raph let out a sigh, understanding that just because Leo forgave him and knows that he's sorry for what he said, the red-masked turtle has to learn that it was going to take some time for his brother to get over what he said to him and for his heart to heal.

"...I understand, bro." He reassured, patting Leo's shell and giving him a comforting smile. "Hey, we'll work this problem out when we get back, okay?" He didn't wait for his brother to reply or to even give him a chance to tell him what's on his mind, for he was already taking a step out forward to continue on down the tunnels. "Right now, let's get out of here; it's making my skin crawl from the sight of this place, reminding me of that crocodile that nearly bit my head off."

Letting out a quiet sigh, knowing it would be best to keep his thoughts in his head for the time being, Leonardo and Raph continued on their journey, one helping the other to walk and guide each other away from the dead end that would've been their resting place. Eventually, the two brothers found the two trails, where the trail on the right leads them back to the sewers and a way back home, and the left trail leads to a waterfall and the pipe that pours the remaining water back to the sea. The problem, they're on the left-side of the tunnel and they need to be on the right to take the trail on the right back to the sewers.

With Raphael's fracture leg becoming a hindrance to the two brothers, which prevents Raph from leaping to the other side, with or without Leonardo's aid, if they want to risk him getting his leg broken, there was only one option Leo knew they'll have to do.

"Grab on to my shell." Raph only gave him an odd look.

"What?" Leo didn't bother to explain himself. He gripped Raph's right-arm that still held on to his shell with his left and, without any hesitation, dived the both of them into the fast water. "What the he-!"

They went under for a few seconds, both fighting off the current as hard as they could, until Leo made a grab for a hole in the concrete with his right and pulled them up above the surface. He reached his hand out and got the upper-half of their bodies out of the water. Raph hacked out water that he had swallowed by accident, pulling himself off of his brother's shell and back on to the ground.

"Next time, bro, give me a better warning before you pull a stunt like that, again!" He gasped out, glaring at his brother, who simply held on to the ledge when he discovered that the current of the surface keeps on trying to drag him down and pul him towards the left-trail of the two paths.

"It was either we swim across, or leap across and run the risk of breaking your leg in the process. Which one would you'd prefer?" He said to his brother. "You know what? Forget I asked and pull me up. The water's trying to pull me down."

"...Right, hang on." He muttered, searching around their area for something that he could use to help pull his brother out without having to lean in close enough to get sucked back into the current.

Lucky for him, a four foot small pipe happened to rest beside him, which he wouldn't had noticed if the sound of rats heading for White Death's den didn't catch his attention. On his left-knee and letting his injured leg to stretch out without any discomfort to the fractured limb, he backed away from the edge until his shell was resting against the wall and, grasping one end of the four foot pipe in both his hands, he held the other end out for his brother.

"Grab on, bro."

Leo lifted his left-hand out for the pipe, a few inches away from having his fingers brush against the end of the pipe. As he reached out a bit further for the pipe, his newly obtained sixth sense triggered warning bells inside his head and dread in his stomach.

_We're not alone. Something's coming our way!_

_**Not Alpha, nor either of Omega-Brothers. Pack's scent nowhere close to White Death's Territory... Can't locate danger, but sense threat coming!**_

"Leo, what's the hold up? Is it too far to reach?" Raph leaned forward, doing a little limp crawl until the end of the pipe hangs over the maskless turtle's head and he was in the middle of the concrete trail. "Can you reach it, now?"

Leo paid no attention to responding to his brother, focusing on what was it that's coming their way, but can only see the darkness surrounding him and his brothers and the roaring cry of the current prevents him from hearing all around their area.

_'If I can't see or hear what's coming our way, then how can I sense the threat coming our wa-... Ah, damn it! I'm in idiot!' _"Raph, stay away! Get back, now!" He cried, pushing the pipe away from his head and struggling to keep the upper-half of his body over the ledge.

"Leo, what's wrong?"

Raph couldn't hear the warning cry very well from the roar of the current and was too busy on trying to get his brother out, that he didn't noticed the trail of red mixing in with the raging water or the fast forming of angry bubbles popping up onto the surface, until his attention was drawn by the having splash of water and a large figure coming down for him and his big brother from above.

...It was White Death, bleeding heavily and using his blood-red right-eye to see, but still very alive and pissed as hell, itself... He came back for them, for _revenge_.

**"If I'm going to die, I'm taking you with me!" **He roared, his claws stretched forward and mouth opened wide to have his fangs ready to grab his victim.

Everything went by so fast, and yet it went slow at the same time, to Raphael, his body paralyzed by fear and his mind going blank that made his hearing muffle out his brother's voice in the background.

_"Raph, move! Get out of the way! Hurry!"_

He remained still in his spot... White Death's right-hand inched its way towards the red-masked turtle's face, the tip of one of his claws almost coming down to lodged itself in the pupil of the boy's right-eye...

It never made it to its target and barely brushed up against his cheek, allowing the ten year-old to avoid the attack, unscathed.

When the clawed-hand moved away from his eye, Raph turned his head to the right, wondering on why the monster missed him... Only to see that his brother, who somehow pulled himself up from the water enough to spring himself towards White Death's throat, having to risk his shell getting scratched by the albino monster's left-hand, and shoving the both of them towards the direction back into the water... Both got pulled in with the current... They took the left trail... They were heading for the waterfall.

Raph screamed for his brother's name.

"LEO!"

In his struggle to get up, he grabbed for the four foot pipe that was discarded away by Leo, using it as a substitute for a crutch and, using it to pole vault himself over to the other side and not damage his right-leg when he landed, ran as fast as he could down the trail to follow the brawl that continued on underwater of the current. "Hang on, bro, I'm coming!"

* * *

**Leonardo's POV**

I heard Raph call out my name, which means he finally come out of being paralyzed in fear, but I knew better than to call back to him. Doing so will make me lose whatever oxygen I was able to hold in when we went under, while struggling to swim for the surface, allow me to become an easy target for my enemy, even if we need to get out of the water before we get dragged towards our deaths by the waterfall.

_**Keep White Death in water! Only place to hold off White Death, keep Beta-Brother Raphael safe!**_

_'That's easier said than done.' _I thought to myself. _'I can't stay under for no more than fifteen minutes and that's what White Death's going to do; cut off my oxygen and grab me when I'm wide open and heading for the surface!'_

_White Death can't breath underwater either and can only hold his breath for three hours, and he's heavily damaged from what you and Raph did, so he shouldn't be able to last longer in the condition he's in. So, how about you use the same idea he'll get and cut off his time in the water to attack?_

...It was not going to be easy, but it's worth a shot to do and is no doubt my only option left to do until we reach the waterfall.

White Death and I continued our fight in the water. When we both dived back into the water, we parted from each other by the pull of the current. I used the current to help me swim myself towards my enemy, who turned his head and saw me coming. He snapped his jaw at me, swiping his claws of his left-hand in case I ducked his attack.

_**Twist and bend, as Borivoj* taught Pup!**_

I twist my body to the right and forced myself to bend backwards, barely missing both his fangs and claws, before I grabbed for my fang-weapon and thrust it as hard as I could into his back. It wasn't deep to hit the bone, but it was deep enough to pierce through the flesh and dig into the muscle.

**"Get the hell off my back!" **He yelled in the water, trying to shake me off of his back.

_Leave it in his back, he'll be too focused on trying to get it out his back that he'll leave himself exposed!_

_**Perfect moment to attack White Death where enemy's more **_**_vulnerable at!_**

While I temporarily left my weapon in his back, I climbed up his back until I was sitting on his neck and, taking a risk at losing all my time underwater, bite down, _hard_, at the underbelly of his neck. My fangs dug in to the slash mark I gave him in our fight at his den, forcing more blood to spill and for him to get weaker from blood loss. Roaring in pain, he swam the both of us back up towards the surface.

_**Hang on, Pup! Don't let go!**_

He shook his head from side-to-side, before he lift himself up and curled back down into the water. He then did the Death Roll, but even that wouldn't get me to let go of my deadly bite. He then used the current, like I did, and rammed the both of us against the wall. This time, the force blow to my back and the sharp-parts of the wall scraping in the back of my head got me to let go and yelp underwater.

**"Now, you're mine!"**

White Death turned around and try to grab me with his mouth, only for me to let the current pull me down to dodge his attack and make a grab for his tail.

_No, don't grab his tail!_

Big mistake. He bashed his tail into the wall, having me to hit the walls face/plastron-first and tried to scrape me off his tail. I was only able to shield my face by pulling myself over the tip of his tail, but the sharp-parts of the wall dug in hard into my plastron.

**"You can't hold on forever, Boy!"**

He was right about that, but what he didn't realize is how close we were getting for the waterfall. I may not be able to talk underwater like White Death can, but I can still let out rumbling growls to communicate with the albino allidile. When he pulled his tail away from the wall, I let out my growls.

**"No, but we won't be swimming much longer until we get dragged to our deaths."**

I pointed a finger at what was ahead of us, which was to the end of the tunnel's trail and where the water falls to a drop at, to what some of the rats claim to be and hearing rumors going on from the few humans who still come into the sewers to inspect the pipes, about eighty feet to reach for the bottom, before they go to the one trail for the pipe that gushes water out into the ocean.

We both knew that if we keep on fighting and don't try to make an attempt to save ourselves, then neither one of us would get out of here alive. Rather than panic, he simply gave it a few second gaze and turned back to me, a calm but serious expression written on his face. He then let out his own growl, a small glimmer of rage held in his bloodlust, but tired eyes.

**"That may be true, but at least I'll get my revenge on you!"**

...Strange. Here we are, fighting against each other and heading for our death. And yet, he didn't really seem to care that if he was heading for a watery grave. It was like he knew that he was going to die and was okay with it... It made me wonder if, secretly, he was hoping to not make it out and had wanted death but was waiting for the right moment for that day to come.

I push back those thoughts when he lifted his tail up above his head, with me slightly dangling from the tip. He sprang his mouth forward, fangs exposed and ready to grab me...

_Let go!_

The instant my Conscience gave me a command, I let go of his tail and rolled over his snout, the very moment his mouth almost snap down... He bit his own tail and cried out in pain. I rolled myself onto his back and grabbed for my discarded weapon, yanking it out of his back. He swam away from me and I took that opportunity for the surface, knowing he's going to take a turn back around and come after me.

_**Brace for attack, Pup!**_

Instead of trying to grab me with his mouth, he rammed his snout against my plastron and brought us both up towards the surface. We leap over the water, almost like dolphins would do out in the ocean, our eyes and focus on only each other.

He opened his jaw.

_Pull back!_

Before I could pull away, he slammed his fangs on my right-arm. I let out a yelp of pain, feeling one half my humerus, and half of both my ulna and radius break like they were nothing but toothpicks to the allidile.

_**How dare White Death bite Pup's arm?! Payback, Pup! Bite back and pour both pain and anger into attack!**_

Enrage and in pain, taking a risk at further injuring my arm, I leaned up and clamped my own fangs at his already damaged left-eye.

_"Leo!"_

I heard Raph called out, which I was surprised to hear when I left him back to the midway point of the tunnel, but I figured he must've used that pipe to help get him across, without further damaging his right-leg, and is using it as a crutch to try and catch up to us. I couldn't take my attention off of White Death for even a second, despite wanting to call out to my brother, and simply bite down at the monster's damaged eye.

_Try and take a breath! We're going back under!_

We both sank back into the waters and White Death tried to get me to let go of his eye by shaking his entire body like a wild bull or bronco trying to get the rider off its back, while trying to keep his mouth completely shut and not wanting to to let my broken-arm go.

**"You fool! Why don't you give up already?! Why do you keep fighting me, when you know we're about to fall for our deaths?!" **He snarled out, performing the Death Roll but is unable to rip my arm off while I keep on hanging on to his snout.

**"Because I know that you'll go after my brother, once you're done with me!" **I growled out, casting a dark glare at his right-eye and still sinking my fangs into his closed left-eye. **"And I may be going to my death for what he did, but at least I won't be dying alone!"**

Even under water, I can hear the roar of the fall. I felt White Death trying to fight off the current and even watch him swim to the bottom to try and anchor the both of us to the ground with his claws, but even he wouldn't be able to escape his fate on falling eighty feet down to the bottom and his claws would slowly delay our deaths... I couldn't take the chance if he actually do get us out of the waters and, without him realizing that my arm trapped in his mouth was holding his fang this whole time, I twisted my hand inside of his mouth and plunged my weapon down onto his tongue.

He finally let go of my arm when he roared in pain and I was free to let go of his snout, but I kept my fang sinking into his damaged eye.

**"Looks like we'll finally get what we wanted, White Death." **I let out a deep rumbling within my throat, as his claws could no longer keep us still to the ground and the current carried the both of us towards the ledge. **"We'll finally be rid ourselves of our rivals."**

He gave me a death-glare, but didn't say or do anything else, except let the current carry us off towards our fate and doesn't even try to shake me off his face.

_...This is it? You're just going to give up and let yourself die?!... How selfish can you be?!_

_'Only a selfish person would take their own life, when killing themselves for the wrong reason. I, on the other hand, had made myself a sacrifice when I saved Raph's life. And now, I'm going to bring White Death to the Afterlife with me, in order to spare and protect my Pack and rat Colony from the albino allidile... It's the only way to keep the sewers safe and for everyone to survive down here.'_

I let out a tiring sigh, as gravity slowly pulled us down. We both went off the ledge and fell with the pouring waters. I allowed myself to shed a few tears when I heard my name being screamed out by my brother.

_"LEO! NO!"_

_'I'm sorry, Raph... I really am.'_ I thought to myself, as I finally let go of White Death's face and released his injured eye from my fangs.

_**White Death will take **_**_opportunity to grab Pup with fangs! Ram White Death against neck to knock wind out of lungs, Pup!_**

Twisting my body to the side, with some help from the wind, I got myself underneath his body and shoved myself up against his throat.

...Eight seconds in the air, eight seconds falling for our deaths, we crashed into the bottom of the fall. We parted from each other when we landed... I was expecting myself to be more damaged than how beat up I was from my fight with White Death, but for some strange reason and besides having a broken-arm, probably some re-opened wounds and gaining deep bruises, I was actually alright. It was most likely because White Death went down before me and when I thrust myself against his throat, his mouth had actually pulled down and could've shielded me from most of the impact I would've taken in if he didn't go down first.

Unfortunately, with my right-arm badly damaged and my left-leg cramping up from some of my healed wounds being re-opened, I had to use my right-leg and left-arm to pull myself up towards the surface.

_...You know, you could've launched yourself off of White Death and possibly avoid getting landing heavily into the water._

_'I could have, but White Death could've made a grab for my leg and have me do a painful bellyflop. Even if he would miss, I couldn't take the chance of him getting a second chance to attack me when landing into the water.'_

_**Best to have White Death be too distract to catch breath or have trouble getting up towards surface, rather than Pup making escape to avoid bruised injuries and leave Pup exposed for possible attack.**_

When I breach myself out of the water, I gulped in a mouth full of breath and hacked up water I inhaled when I crashed down to the bottom of the falls. I saw my blood mixing in with the water and the bubbles of the waterfall, giving me an upset stomach from the sight on how much blood I'm actually losing.

_"Leo!"_ Raph sounded shocked when he said my name, but I can tell that he also sounded relieved to be seeing me alive. _"Hang on, bro, I'll be right there!"_

Keeping my head above the water and forcing myself to swim with just one arm, I tiredly made my way for the right-side of the pool and latched on to the ledge of the concrete floor. Most of my strength is gone, leaving me to only grab on to the ledge until Raph can pull me out of the water.

_Hang in there. Raph will come down and once you're out of the water, you two can finally head back home and get the rest you need._

Too tired to argue with my Conscience on sticking to my plan, I simply laid my head on the ledge and closed my eyes to let them rest for a bit.

_**Pup mustn't fall asleep! Pup will let go and drown if Pup sleeps! Pup must stay awake!**_

I groaned, but opened my tired eyes to keep myself awake. As I waited for my brother to come down here and help me out of the pool, I felt an odd vibration forming within the water and, when I turned to see what was it that caused the suspicious vibration, saw bubbles popping out of the water at the other side of the pool... My eyes widen when I knew what was it and, in mere seconds, White Death popped himself out of the water and rested the upper-half of his body on the ledge to the left-side of the room.

He gasped for air, sort of like I'm doing, and seemed dazed to what's going on. Blood trickled down from his forehead, which I could guess could be when he slammed his head into the water. His right-arm hung a bit awkward on the ledge, most likely fractured from impact. I couldn't see the rest of his body, hidden underneath the water, but I know for sure that he took major damage at the harsh landing into the pool and doesn't seem like he can fight at all.

_Is he made of iron, or what?! No doubt that he took serious damage from that fall, but how could he get himself back to the surface, without any help?!_

His right-eye, still bleeding but not as bad as his left-eye, turned their gaze towards me, slit and narrowed. I couldn't read his face or expression on what he's thinking or is feeling, but I can tell that whatever's on his mind, it has me involved in it.

Despite my body having no more energy to fight, I narrowed my own eyes back at White Death and let out a low snarl, forcing my left-arm to slowly and wobbly pull myself over my ledge to try and stand on all four... My arm couldn't pull me up, but I was able to get almost half of the upper-part of my body out of the water and turn to the side a bit.

"Still want... To keep... Fighting?" I gasped out, coughing off the remaining water out of my lungs and trying to push aside my own weakness if White Death really wants to keep going. "I ain't... Going down... That easily."

He let loose a low growl and looked ready to push himself back into the water to come at me... But, for some odd reason, he stayed in his spot, looking rather tired and annoyed. After having a good old glare off for about a few minutes, he made his move and did something that I never thought he would ever do: He turned his gaze away from me and down to the concrete floor and water underneath him... And _bowed_ his head towards me.

**"...I submit to you, Boy... I surrender."**

My eyes widen from what's happening before my eyes: White Death, the White Devil Sewer Monster of New York, the albino allidile who sheds blood without any hesitation and never spare the weak from death, has _submit _himself to me, admitting defeat! I narrowed my eyes at his sudden decision to give up.

_'Is this some kind of trap for me to fall for?'_ I asked myself."What is this, White Death? Is this some kind of trick to get me to lower my guard and for you to finally kill me?"

White Death simply let out a tiring sigh and lifted his mighty head back up, gazing his red-eye back at me that held a stern look of tiredness and humility.

**"If this were some trick, I would've decided to stay in the water and pretend I died crashing into the water, waiting for your brother to come lift you out of the waters and for me to come out of the waters and crush you both by my weight."**

_...He does make a fair point and in the condition he's in, he wouldn't really put up much of a fight while he's bleeding to death._

_**Still, Pup mustn't trust White Death so easily or lower guard from sight of wounds. White Death may still plan attack for Pup and Kin.**_

I didn't stop glaring at him, but I slowly allowed my body to rest and give my left-arm a break from having to lift my deadweight body with what little strength it has left.

"If what you say is true, then why toss away a chance to finally be rid of me? Isn't that what you've been waiting for this whole time?" White Death chuckled at my question.

**"Honestly, Kid, I'm just getting tired of this." **His answer confuses me, but I let him continue talking. **"Always having to scavenge for food, that always ended up being trash I can't eat or prey that never hold me off for even a full hour, and having to deal with being on my own down here in this never ending maze of toxic darkness."**

I can understand how he feels about being stuck down here, but from what he claims about being 'tired' have me confused.

"What are you trying to say, White Death? That all this time, owning the whole West-Side of the city's sewer and striking fear into the hearts of those who live down here, you were actually looking for a way out of this place?" He smirked at my question.

**"You really are a clever wolf, Mutt." **I let out a low growl at what he called me, but all that did was get him to laugh. **"No need to get so worked up, Kid. You know that I speak the truth when I call you a 'mutt' and 'wolf', which is also a fact on why you called me an 'allidile' when we fought in my den."**

I stopped growling, but my glare stayed firm.

**"Tell me something, Kid: How did you figured out that I'm not a crocodile or an alligator, like your brother has mistaken me for being a crocodile?"**

"The same way you know that I'm part wolf; the scent of your blood gave it away." I told him. "When I took your fang a moon ago. It was covered in your blood, and it gave away an unusual earth/fire-like smell. None of the rats or fishes carry that scent, other than yourself. Also, your body appearance and anatomy would make any human confused if you're an alligator with a longer, v-shaped head, or a crocodile that appears to favor freshwater and can't adapt very well to seawater... And we all know that alligators and crocodiles can't breed together, and yet here's one now, though I doubt you became like this by nature."

White Death seemed a bit surprised to my observation, but only to let out a deep sigh.

**"Shouldn't really be surprised, that you would be able to smell my impure blood to being not from an alligator or a crocodile, considering that I most likely came out the same way you did."**

I cocked my head to the side.

"'Came out'?" White Death nodded his head.

**"Believe it or not, Kid, I didn't become an allidile by birth, like you already stated... I was made into this, by humans, in a laboratory. They injected me with some bluish-green substance, after putting me in a cage with an alligator and the moment they transferred it into me, I turned into this."**

My eyes widen in shock when he mentioned of humans giving him a bluish-green substance; I knew who he was talking about and what substance he's referring to.

"Did your body felt like it was on fire, drowning and burning your insides to leave you gasping for air, when they gave you that glowing liquid?" His right-eye held anger and hatred at my question.

**"Yeah, it did." **He growled out. **"I'll never forget about that burning feeling that burnt me from the inside-out, or how much I would want to kill a human as much as I did when they turned me into a monster. The only good thing about that dark gift they gave me, had allowed me to get my revenge on those humans and destroy their den. I eventually found myself in the sewers and had been here for twenty years, ever since."**

_'Even longer than we've been here, and before Master Splinter moved from Japan.'_

_Despite living on the South-Side of the city and him living on the West, White Death must've knew we were living down here, all this time._

_'He could've hunted us down and eaten us, including Sensei, but he didn't... Why didn't he?'_

**"Something on your mind, Boy?"** White death groaned out, not liking the awkward silence between them, despite the roars of the fall being the only sound keeping the silence at bay.** "Best ask away, before that kin of yours get here."**

_**White Death's right, despite still not to trust him. Beta-Brother Raphael almost here.**_

"...You knew we were down here for ten years... You could've eaten us years ago... Why didn't you eat us?" I slowly shifted my shell to rest against the ledge, to better face the monster. "Why didn't you eat me, when you had the chance to finish me a moon ago?"

White Death let loose a low hiss, but it wasn't towards me. His gaze was to what was behind me, which was a tunnel that leads to an old control room of the wastewater treatment plant that would either open the hatch to allow water to pour out of here, or close it if the machines from the Surface World aren't working properly to let clean water out of the sewers... And my brother, Raphael, who stood paralyzed at the sight of White Death on the other side of the room.

"Don't worry, Raph, he's not going to strike." I assured him, keeping my eyes on the albino creature and waiting patiently for him to answer my question.

**"For your first question: I chose to wait and see if you'd all die from natural causes, before I would decide to eat you. You four were just mere hatchlings and wouldn't satisfy my hunger for being so small. Not only that, I can tell that your rat-father would be a difficult opponent to take down if I tried to come after you five."**

I nodded his head, understanding his reason to not have eaten me, my brothers and sensei when we were but mere hatchlings.

**"As for your second question, it's quite simple: You're the first to not only stand up against me, but was also able to hold yourself longer than those who end up killed by my fangs and claws." **His claws dug into the concrete floor, almost describing on how much he enjoyed fighting me and seems to wanna go for another round with me, but his wouldn't give him a fourth try to take me down from the inflicted wounds covering his body. **"You're the first thing that ever made anything down here fun and doesn't bore me, and I knew that we would fight again one of these days, so I chose to spare your life to live another day."**

"And you left me that fang of yours, as a promise that we'd fight again. You even took my bandana to find me by scent when you want to fight again." I whispered, slowly holding out his discarded fang with my right-arm, which was really difficult to do when trying to use a broken-arm to function right, to present it into their conversation. He nodded his head.

**"And a warning that the next time we fight, it would be a fight until only one of us is left standing."**

"...You do know better than to play with your food, let alone give your meal a fighting chance to live, White Death." Raphael limped his way towards his brother, with the help from the pipe to get him moving, and kneeled behind his brother.

**"You know me better than to simply give my preys a quick and painless death, Mutt. I prefer to see the look of fear in their eyes while suffering a painful death, I'm not one to show any kind of mercy to the weak. Besides, the fight we had really was payback for what you did to my oldest fang."**

"What are you doing, bro? Are you actually talking to that **Yajuu**?!" Raph asked me, placing both his hands underneath both my arms, which forced out a gasp of pain when his right-arm grasped tightly on my broken-arm. He immediately let go my arms, not knowing what he did wrong until he saw the puncture marks on my right-arm.

"I already told you before, Raph. White Death's smarter and more intelligent than he appears to be. He can understand what we're saying to him." I grunted out, holding my broken-arm against my chest in case Raph tries to grab it again. I then stared back at White Death. "And now that the fight's over, I guess you'll want your fang back." I held out my arm and presented the fang towards the beast.

_What are you thinking?! You'll be defenseless if you give White Death his fang! There's no telling on what he'll do if he does take it!_

_'I know, but he hadn't lied to me when he answered my question and I can tell that he wish to leave us. The least I can do is return what belonged to him from the beginning of his life.'_

_**Better hope White Death doesn't pull any tricks, Pup.**_

The one-eyed allidile stared at the fang that once was his eldest fang that had stayed with him from the day he hatched from his egg, then back at me, a humanoid-wolf/turtle who can very much be the only creature close enough to be acknowledged as his equal. White Death let out a low growl and slowly shook his head at my offer.

**"Keep it," **he grunted. **"I don't have any use for it, anymore. I already grew a new fang to replace it on the very day it came out." **He opened his jaw, once again showing his many rows of teeth to me and my brother, before snapping it close on purpose to freak Raph out. He let out a chuckle when Raph yelped in a panic but was able to not stand up or even lean against his fractured right-leg. **"Besides, I think you should keep it, as a sign of proof that you lived to tell the tale on how you fought the mighty Sewer Monster of New York... And a symbol of reminder that we're more alike than you think we're not."**

I cocked my head to the side, but chose to ignore the comment.

"Now that you know where to get out of the sewers, where are you going to go?" I asked, slowly placing the fang back into the fold of my belt and slowly backing away when the allidile slowly made his way towards the trail of water that leads to the pipe pouring clean water into the ocean. He gazed at the small light, sitting at the end of the tunnel.

**"Anywhere but here, and away from the humans... I'm going to find my freedom." **White Death stared back at me and gave out a cocky smirk, until it slowly dropped to a calm and serious face... Almost looking as if he feels a bit sad that he'll be leaving the sewers... Almost like he was sorry that he was leaving _me_. **"I know how much that means to you, wanting to go off and find your freedom... You know, ****I'd offer to take you with me, but it's pretty clear that you won't leave those nuisance that you call 'Pack' and don't trust me to not try and eat you when you sleep."**

I gave him a stern nod, placing my left-hand on top of Raph's hand, clenching on to the hand to be sure my brother was still behind me and to calm him of his fear.

**"Calm down, Boy. If you think I'm gonna sneak around a back way and ambush you two and then go after your remaining brothers and rat-father, you can think again. I may be a bloodthirsty killer, but I always keep my word." **He thumped his tail against the water. **"I gave you my word that I wouldn't go after your Pack, when I left you after our first encounter, and I'm still going to keep that promise to you... Although, if you would be so kind, consider this friendly advice, from one fellow half-blood to another."**

White Death gave Raph a cold glare, who tightened his grip on his my hand and placed his other hand on my shoulder, before gazing back my Cerulean/sapphire-eyes.

**"You may have done well keeping your secret from your Pack, but know that you won't be able to hide it forever and that it's bound to come out, sooner than you think. And once they realize that you're not who you appear to be, that you're not like them and are literally a wolf in sheep's clothing, they'll cast you out of the clan and leave you to fend for yourself.**"

I gave out a tiring sigh.

"...I know." I whispered, lowering my gaze to the water surrounding my body. White Death let out an annoyed snort.

**"When that day comes, Mutt, don't shed any tears for them and know that on your own, the only person you need to look out for is yourself... That rat-father of yours need to know that eventually, even the most tamed and trained warrior will one day turn on their master, in order to protect the clan from their foes... Even if that enemy has to be one of their own, a _monster_."**

He didn't a reply back from me, which I kept my gaze down to the water and, as if I look like I was having second thoughts, look as if I wanted to ask White Death to leave the sewers with him. The albino monster let out a deep sigh and began to limp his way down the tunnel... I couldn't let him go out, without my own friendly advice.

"You know that the humans will find you," I warned the allidile, stopping him in his tracks on following the trail of water leading for the pipe. "And the moment they see you, they'll capture you and put you in a zoo... They'll stop you from finding your freedom." _'Just like my Pack does with me...'_

"Leo, what are you trying to do?! Let him go and leave us alone! Who cares if he gets captured by the humans?!" Raph exclaimed, placing his right-arm over my chest and, with his left grasping on to my left-arm, started pulling me out of the water. With little to no trouble on getting me out, Raph sat beside me, keeping his arm around me to trap me within his embrace that he, from what I can sense from his grip, wanted to give me for so long.

White Death chuckled at both of us, amazed that I, his former enemy and opponent, would warn his enemy of the humans, and not really surprised or blame my brother to not caring what happens to the albino monster.

**"Let them come and get me,"** He tempted fate with a cocky smirk on his face.** "I'll put up a fight and show them how I was given the name 'White Death'. And if they do catch me, at least I'll be in a far more better place than living down here... Besides, it should be about time my fighting days are put to an end, freed or captured." **He then gave me a wink. **"Take care of yourself, and _never_ quit fighting for what matters to you the most... Moon Scar."**

With that being said and saying his last words to his victorious opponent, White Death dived into the water and swam off towards his escape, vanishing forever from both mine and my brother's sights.

* * *

**Normal POV**

Minutes later, Leo let out a deep sigh.

"He's gone," he told his brother.

"Hope that he is." Raph growled out, tightening his grip onto his brother and glaring at the last place White Death was just standing at.

_**Beta-Brother Raphael can stop being scared. White Death's gone and won't comeback to sewers... White Death has gone for freedom.**_

_You can't blame him for still being terrified of the thought of White Death coming back to finish the job! Let's hope that we don't ever have to come across him and his kind, again!_

_**Don't speak too soon. Fate plays an unusual game, where Fate can either play fair or cheat to ones destiny that can be either good or bad. Pup may very well meet alligator or crocodile in mere future, but won't know when time will come.**_

_If we do meet one, let's hope that the next alligator or crocodile is nicer and less bloodthirsty than White Death._

Instead of him being silent to talk with his Instinct and Conscience or try to reassure Raphael that the danger has past, Leonardo leaned out over the ledge of the floor and vomit out the sewer water that he had swallowed after falling into the pool.

"Leo!" Raph cried, having his left-arm folded over Leo's chest and his right-hand patting on his shell, trying to soothe his brother as he continued to vomit the water out of his stomach. The sound of his brother throwing up sickens the red-masked turtle and made him worried when he saw some blood in the mixture of the regurgitated water, only to see that the blood was actually White Death's when Leo used his fangs to latch on to the white demon.

A minute later, and the vomiting finally subsided, much to both of the brother's relief. However, just when Raph thought the situation was going to get better, it just got worse.

"**Gomen'nasai**, Raph..."

Leo's strength on staying awake finally sapped whatever energy he had left in him and allowed his body to almost plunge back into the water if his brother wasn't holding on to him. Raph kept a firm grip on his brother, pulling him against his chest to let his head rest on something that wasn't hard as stone. He placed a hand over his forehead, noticing how clammy his skin looked... He has a fever, a high one from how flushed his cheeks were and serious his wheezing was from panting for breath. The two fights with White Death took a major toll on the maskless turtle's health and having to not have eaten anything for so long, wasn't helping with the situation of the fever.

Raphael shifted Leo's body to lean on his left-shoulder, gently folding Leo's right-arm over his chest so the arm doesn't get in the way or hit anything to shock wave of pain throughout his body, and wrapped his left-arm underneath his brother's body. Grabbing for the pipe that sat behind his shell, Raph pulled himself up to his feet. From how it was easy for him to get back on his feet, broken leg and all and having to hold his brother with just one arm, he knew that his brother's weight was much more serious than he thought from just physical appearance.

"Damn it, Leo... I messed you up, big time." Raph muttered to himself, already heading for the tunnel he came out when finding a way to get down from the top of the waterfall.

It leads to a set of stairs that the red-masked turtle took to get down, which was a bit of a struggle for him to keep his balance and footing from slipping when he ran down the steps as fast as he could. Going up the stairs with a busted leg and a unconscious brother in one of his arms was going to be another challenge, but going up the stairs was the only direction that leads back for the Lair.

With only one option that could irritate Leo's wounds until they rest the top but the only way to keep his balance while going up the steps, Raph had to lean against the railing on his left, at times having to stop to reposition his brother within his hold that results on moving the broken-arm and forcing out either a yelp or gasp of pain from the unconscious turtle. Raph hates himself for causing more pain to his brother when he has already suffered enough in one day, but he knew that the moment they're at the top of the stairs, it would all end and be forgotten.

A few minutes and seventeen forced out grunts later, they finally made it to the top and Raph can finally walk, as normally as he could with a turtle in one arm and the other using a pipe to lean on for a substitute crutch, towards the tunnel and down the path back to the trail. It was going to be smooth walking from here on out, as long as he doesn't try to run or move too quickly that could make him lose his footing. Smiling in relief, Raph stared down at Leo, who was still gasping for breath but didn't seem to be that much in pain anymore.

"Hang in there, bro. I'll get us home and **Otousan's** going to fix you up in no time." He leaned his head down and pressed his forehead against his brother's, something that Leo has always done ever since they were toddlers and would always do whenever his brothers get scared or hurt and needed to be reassured that everything's going to be alright. It has always been his way of comforting his brothers and had never failed to do its magic, that Raph knew he needs to assure his unconscious brother, and himself, that their problem will soon be over. "It's going to be alright, big bro. Everything's going to be alright, I promise."

Reluctant to pull away from his brother but making sure his grip on his brother wouldn't falter, Raphael continued on with his quest to head home, where he knew that he can present the Hamato Clan their missing loved one and have them finally call off the search for eldest turtle... Little did he know, that it was much too soon to assume that the worst was finally over and that everything would return to normal for the Hamato Clan, when it was actually the beginning of something that's neither good nor bad.  
**End of Flashback...**

**TBC**

* * *

*: Mamoru is Japanese for "Protection".

*: Borivoj is Czech meaning "Great Warrior".

I don't really know how long that albino allidile/crocogator (I know that they call it an alligator in the episode: "Tales of Leo", but I stuck with crocodile until Leo stated his discovery of the white beast being half gator and half crocodile) was, but if it towers over Leo and Raph, no doubt it's larger and bigger than the humans. So, I just took a guess for the creature.

Also... In case you didn't know or had forgotten, but for the 2003 version of TMNT, of an episode of them being toddlers, there is a scene where we could see them running down the sewers. While they ran, there's one of them who ran on all-four (though it almost looks like he was doing leapfrog)... Which turned out to be Leonardo who was running on all four during that time. If you want to know the episode of the scene, there's only one that I know that shows it: S7E06 "Incredible Shrinking Serling".

R&amp;R


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